


There’s No Crying In Baseball

by bearpantaloons



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: All other characters are minor - Freeform, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, There’s like one smut in this story, lena tries really hard to ignore her feelings, like really hard, maybe two if I’m feeling frisky, sportsball au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 72,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23703346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bearpantaloons/pseuds/bearpantaloons
Summary: Lena is left with her father’s baseball team during World War II. With the men overseas, she turns it into a women’s league to try and give Americans some semblance of normalcy. She recruits the Danvers sisters and, against her better judgement, dives headfirst into a season of love.OR;A League of Their Own AU
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 201
Kudos: 423





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, a few things about this fic. First, you’ll have to ignore a few historical facts, such POC being allowed to play on sports teams. That didn’t happen until a few years later for men, but I wanted to include characters of color in this story. Same with LGBTQ folks - you’ll have to ignore the fact that anyone who was queer back then was likely never out. Also, pretend that the cities aren't spread out all over the country and they're within a day's driving distance.
> 
> In any case, I hope you enjoy and thank you for stopping by.

Lena Luthor is a proud businesswoman. She’s singlehandedly brought her family’s company up from the ashes after her father passed away, when her brother decided that being a playboy and avoiding the draft, living the high life on a private island, was much more enjoyable. The company’s stocks are back up, her mother’s stopped hounding her about the way she’s running things, because she’s producing results. Even her board members have stopped huffing and puffing about a woman being in charge.

With the war going on, a lot of men have been drafted and shipped off overseas, leaving most of the women back home to pick up the slack. It’s become par for the course and women like Lena understand how important it is to act like everything is normal, while also being aware that their men are off fighting for their lives.  
  
While she sits at her desk, looking over proposals, a stack of papers gets thrown in front of her to go along with her other stacks of papers. She jumps at the impact and removes her glasses, setting them down on the edge of the desk.  
  
“Jess? What’s this?” she asks her assistant, flipping through the first few pages.  
  
“It appears to be a contract,” her assistant replies, setting a pen down on top of it.  
  
“Yes, but for what? I thought I already signed the contract for the hydroelectric implementation into the research facilities on the coast.”  
  
“Compliments from your brother. He said your father left the National City Argonauts to the both of you and he mentioned something about being too busy surfing to look at it. There’s a copy of the will and testament underneath.”  
  
“What the hell are the Argonauts? Is that some Frank Sinatra song?”  
  
Jess frowns and blinks at her boss and clears her throat. “It’s the city’s local baseball team.” Lena just stares at her. “T-the biggest sports team in the state?” More staring. “They’ve won the championship title for the past five years.”  
  
Lena sits up and folds her hands in front of her. “As interesting as that sounds, I don’t feel I’m best suited to be the manager of a sports team. LuthorCorp has been all about technology and advancing science and education. Why can’t we sell it to someone else who actually cares?”  
  
Her assistant pulls the will out from under the papers and sets it on top of the stack. “There’s a clause within the will that says you can’t sell the team, otherwise your inheritance will be liquidated and given to children’s sports organizations all over the world.”  
  
“You’re shitting me. Leave it to my dad to blackmail me even after death. Why doesn’t Lex have to do anything? Why does it fall on me?”  
  
“Your brother stated that he knew you wouldn’t let both of your inheritances get taken away and you’d save them both again, as usual.”  
  
Lena rubs her forehead, feeling the sharp pain of a migraine coming on. “Okay, fine. What needs to be done?”  
  
“Well,” Jess flips to a marked page, “it’s the off-season, so recruitments for next season will need to happen. Last season’s coach retired, so a new coach will need to be chosen, along with scouting new players.”  
  
“Why can’t we just use last season’s players?”  
  
“They, um, they’re all overseas.”  
  
Lena slumps back in her chair. “All of them?”  
  
Jess nods. “All of them. Those who didn’t volunteer willingly got drafted. Word is, they’re going to try turning it into a women’s league, but you’ll be hard pressed to find players. Most women won’t want to leave the comfort of their homes or leave their families.”  
  
“So, how the hell am I supposed to recruit a whole new team of players and a coach to a team that no one wants to play for?”  
  
“Well, that’s what scouting is for. We search far and wide for single women, or women without families and appeal to them.”  
  
Lena sighs and reads through more of the contract. “This is absolutely ridiculous. Get Jack Spheer on the line. He owes me a favor.”

* * *

The irritatingly abrasive phone ring wakes Jack from his restless slumber. His hand knocks over empty bottles of beer and he sits up, realizing he’d fallen asleep on his apartment floor again. As he searches for the edge of the table to pull himself to his feet, the phone continues ringing and he stumbles to where it’s perched on the wall.  
  
“Hello?” he mutters, his throat feeling like he devoured a whole sheet of sandpaper.   
  
“Jack, it’s been a while,” Lena’s tinny voice says through the receiver. “I have a proposition for you.”  
  
Jack sighs. “Lena Luthor. Does this proposition involve booze and, perhaps, pretty women?”  
  
“Women, yes. Their attractiveness will likely be subjective and also none of your concern. Remember that time I bailed you out of jail and paid a few of my lawyers to have it stricken from your record?”  
  
“Uh, yeah?”  
  
“It’s time to cash in. How much do you know about baseball?”

* * *

Lena knew fully well that Jack used to play baseball, but an injury ended his career early and catapulted him into years of drinking and lamenting what could have been. He was well on his way to the hall of fame with his impressing batting average and fielding. Unfortunately, it wasn’t in the cards for him and the injury to his leg also kept him out of the army.   
  
With Jack on board to coach the team, all Lena needed now was… a team. She put up ads in the local paper and had her advertising team put up flyers all over the city, then had her PR people advertise on all other media outlets that there would be open try-outs held all over the state. If she was going to be forced into doing this, she was going to do it right.   
  
Lena sets up a whole sports division within the company to organize the innerworkings of the team. She has people picking up phone calls from potential players to answer their questions and hires scouts to go to local colleges and other places where they hear there may be possible talent. They’re getting a pretty long list of people interested in a spot on the team, which is promising, considering she’s turning the league into a women’s league.   
  
It doesn’t seem too difficult to manage a sports team, most of it runs itself. All she has to do is make sure she’s able to sell it to reporters and make them think her company has turned over a new leaf. She’s even gone as far as to rename LuthorCorp to simply L-Corp, to remove her family’s name from the equation completely. In all honesty, it’s done nothing but bring hardship to herself and being seen as The Only Sane Luthor is somewhat of a heavy load to carry on her shoulders.  
  
She’s sitting in her office when Jess knocks once before letting herself in. She’s holding a clipboard and a large cup of coffee in her hands. Setting down the cup in front of Lena, she scans through her clipboard before speaking.  
  
“Miss Luthor, there are over a hundred interested players on our list thus far and that’s not even counting the ones that have yet to be recruited by scouts.”  
  
“How many players are on a team?”  
  
“Nine, ma’am, plus any relievers.”  
  
“Then I guess Jack has his work cut out for him. Make sure he gets an assistant coach to help him out.” She goes back to her paperwork, but Jess doesn’t make any indication that she’s finished. “Was there something else?”  
  
“Yes actually. There are two recruits in Midvale that scouts want to go see and they think having you there would help sway them.”  
  
“Why me?”  
  
“They, um…” Jess pauses and swallows thickly.  
  
“Spit it out, Jess,” Lena sighs.  
  
“Their father was involved in the incident that happened at the factory.” Lena stops what she’s doing and looks up at her assistant.  
  
“I see. So, what, I’m supposed to travel to Midvale and grovel in front of them? Beg them to be on my team and offer them some sort of payoff?”  
  
“I suppose that’s up to you, ma’am. The scouts think they’ll be your all-stars. They both played in high school, could’ve gotten scholarships to whatever university they wanted to go to, but stayed in Midvale to help on their family farm instead.”  
  
Lena purses her lips and taps her fingers on her desk. “What do you think I should do?”  
  
“Ma’am?”  
  
“I’m asking for your opinion, Jess. What would you do in my position?”  
  
Jess shifts nervously and grips the clipboard tighter. “I would go to Midvale, talk to them. A lot of sports fans eat up the prospect of having siblings on the same team, so I think it would be beneficial to the team as a whole – assuming they make it through try-outs, of course.”  
  
Lena hums and nods, thinking things over. “Fine. Book a flight to Midvale and tell Jack to do some research on these sisters.” When Jess bites her lip nervously, Lena narrows her eyes. “What is it?”  
  
“Midvale doesn’t have an airport. You’ll have to drive there.”  
  
With a scoff and a sigh, Lena leans back in her chair, with a look of resignation on her face. “Then I guess you and I are going on a road trip.”

* * *

The drive to Midvale is, to put it bluntly, incredibly boring. It’s all flat farmland and telephone poles with the occasional cow. Lena’s driver doesn’t help matters as he’s not very talkative and Jess has been asleep for at least ninety percent of the trip. Lena vaguely wonders if she’s narcoleptic. Four hours later, they pull into a long dirt driveway and Lena notes a red pick-up truck sitting in front of an old barn and a small house nestled beside it.   
  
Lena steps out of the town car and Jess does, as well. They walk down the dirt path up to the house and Jess knocks on the door. When there’s no response, Lena looks around for any signs of movement, but it’s all quiet.   
  
“Maybe they’re not home,” her assistant says.   
  
“Nope, I did not come all the way out here for nothing. Let’s look in the barn.” Lena climbs down the porch steps and makes her way toward the large double doors of the barn. She quickly realizes that she isn’t wearing proper attire the second she steps in a pile of animal shit.  
  
“You can’t be serious,” she yells.   
  
“Hello? Can I help you?” a woman calls out. She has short, auburn hair and is wiping her hands off with a handkerchief.   
  
Lena looks down at her now-ruined wedges with disgust. “Are you Alexandra or Kara Danvers?”  
  
“I’m Alex. What can I do for you?”  
  
“My name is Lena Luthor and I’m the CEO of L-Corp. I’ve had a baseball team dropped into my lap that I’m trying to rebuild from the ground up and I hear you play. We’d like to invite you to National City’s try-outs.”  
  
Alex laughs heartily. “Ma’am, I haven’t played in well over eight years. I have no desire to put my cleats back on and get pelted in the face with a ball again.”  
  
“What about your sister? Would she be interested?”  
  
“Look, lady, I don’t know who you are, but we have a farm to run. Ever since our dad passed away, we’re the only ones left to carry on his legacy and name.”  
  
“Alex? Who’s there?” another voice calls out. A blonde walks out of the barn, shirt sleeves rolled up to her shoulders and has oil stains all over herself. She’s wearing a baseball cap that says Midvale Mudskippers on it and Lena knows all she has to do is appeal to this sister.  
  
“Some city folks wanting us to play baseball on their team. I already told ‘em we have the farm to run and can’t leave.”  
  
“That sounds like fun, though. It’s been ages since we’ve played.”  
  
“Exactly. We’re out of shape, not to mention it’s all the way in National City. Who’s going to take care of Mom? What about the farm?”  
  
The blonde, which Lena assumes is Kara, scoffs and flexes her arms, leaving Lena’s mouth as dry as stale bread. “Speak for yourself. I ain’t out of shape.”  
  
Jess saves Lena from her painfully obvious gay panic and steps forward. “We’ve drawn up a contract here that says we’ll take care of any costs that the farm may require for upkeep. We can hire some ranch hands or additional labor to take over for the two of you while you head off to try-outs and, should you make it onto the team, throughout the baseball season.”  
  
“I don’t know, this sounds too good to be true,” Alex says skeptically, furrowing her brow. “When’s the last time our family got news like this? Right before Dad died.”  
  
Lena steps forward, painfully aware of her soiled shoe. “As a show of good faith, we’ll still hire additional labor to help out around the farm, regardless of what you choose to do. They’ll be here in the morning.”  
  
Kara looks her up and down with an amused smile on her face. “You really didn’t know what to expect, did you? Give me your shoe.”  
  
“Excuse me?” Lena replies, affronted.   
  
“Your shoe. Our mom’s got a foolproof way of getting shit out of things. You can wear these boots.” Kara ducks back into the barn and pulls out a pair of old, dusty, worn boots.   
  
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. These are twenty-five-dollar shoes.”  
  
Kara shrugs. “Suit yourself. You’re the one who’ll have to smell it the whole way back to your fancy office.”  
  
Lena looks at Alex and then at Jess, whose eyes are begging her to let Kara clean her shoes, and growls in frustration. She puts a hand on Kara’s muscular shoulder as she unbuckles her shoes and dips her feet into the boots that are two sizes too big. Kara takes them and hands them to Alex, who heads into the house.  
  
“Okay, Mrs. Luthor, I’ll make you a deal—“  
  
“Miss.”  
  
“I beg your pardon?”  
  
Miss, not missus,” Lena says, arms crossed over her chest.   
  
“Oh, excuse me. Miss Luthor. I’ll make you a deal. If you can get milk out of our cow, I’ll go with you.”  
  
“That’s it?” Lena asks.   
  
“That’s it,” replies Kara, who wears an annoyingly cocky smile on her face.   
  
“Show the way.”   
  
Kara takes them back inside of the barn, which smells only slightly better than Lena’s shoe. Kara turns a bucket upside down and places it on the side of one of the cows, patting it gingerly. “Have a seat.”  
  
Lena frowns, really wishing she had worn different clothes to this meeting, but she sits down.  
  
“Okay, so you pinch the nipples and pull. Not sure if you have experience there, but it’s not too difficult.”  
  
Lena’s glad she isn’t facing anyone, because she can tell the blood is rushing up to her ears. She takes two nipples between her fingers and tugs gingerly. When nothing comes out, Kara chuckles.   
  
“You gotta do it harder than that. Pinch ‘em like you mean it.”  
  
Lena sets her jaw and grabs all away around the nipple and pulls. A tiny trickle of milk shoots into the bucket and she bolts up.  
  
“Ha! I did it.”  
  
Kara smiles proudly and slowclaps. “Nicely done. In all honesty, I was probably going to agree to go anyway, but it was mighty satisfying watching you milk a cow.”  
  
Lena’s about to voice a retort when Alex comes back, holding Lena’s shoes in her hand. They look as good as new.   
  
“How did you do that?” she asks.   
  
“Told you, our mother has a method of getting stains out. Did Kara trick you into milking Mike? That’s kind of her thing.”  
  
“You named your cow Mike?” Jess asks.   
  
“Sure did,” Kara replies with a wink. “Anyway, we should get packing.”  
  
“We?” Alex says, whipping her head over in Kara’s direction as she walks past her sister. “You agreed?”  
  
“Think about it, Alex. This is what we always dreamed of - playing baseball professionally, or at least past high school. Now’s our chance!”  
  
“What about Mom? What about the farm?”  
  
“Miss Luthor said she’ll take care of the farm. If we make it, the money we’ll earn will help both Mom and the farm. We owe it to ourselves to at least try.”  
  
Lena and Jess remain neat the barn while Kara and Alex keep walking and talking it out. “What are you thinking, ma’am?”  
  
“I’m thinking we just got our two all-stars.”

* * *

Lena gets a room at a local motel to give the Danvers sisters time to pack and break the news to their mother. She gets separate rooms for both Jess and her driver and she sits down on her bed and re-reads the contract she’s waiting for Alex and Kara to sign. She’s secretly a little excited about building this team. If she can treat it like a business with profits and losses, margins, and so forth, it should be smooth sailing.  
  
In the morning, Lena packs up and gets ready to meet the Danvers sisters back at their farm. She was able to borrow a pair of worn sneakers from Jess, so at least she wouldn’t ruin her own shoes and she could easily replace Jess’ five-dollar oxfords.  
  
When they arrive, Kara’s standing in the bed of that old red truck, tossing hay bales onto another truck. Lena tries to ignore the muscles rippling all over Kara’s arms and the light sheen of sweat on her brow. Before she can stop herself, she’s unconsciously licking her lips and of course that’s when Kara looks over and notices them.  
  
“G’morning! Sorry, I was just getting a little work done before we leave. I’m really gonna miss all of this hard labor. Come inside, my mom wants to meet you.” She hops off of the truck and walks toward the house, opening the front door for both of them. It’s a nice-looking house, small, cozy. It has photographs all over the walls and mantles, looks like a lot of love resides there.  
  
“Ma!” Kara yells up the stairs.   
  
An attractive middle-aged blonde peeks her head out and greets them with a smile. She offers a handshake, which Lena graciously accepts.  
  
“You must be the woman who’s taking my daughters away from me. I’m Eliza.”  
  
“I guess so,” Lena agrees, digging through her bag. “I brought the contracts for you all to sign, for the farm labor and everything. It essentially says that I will be paying for it regardless of the outcome of try-outs.”  
  
Eliza reads it over carefully while Kara barrels down the stairs with two large suitcases. Alex comes out soon after.  
  
“Are you two hungry? We made eggs and pancakes,” Kara offers.  
  
“No, thank you,” Lena declines.  
  
“Why, watching your figure?” Alex snarks and Kara elbows her.   
  
“I’m not a fan of breakfast,” Lena answers and Kara looks personally offended by her choice to not have the most important meal of the day. “Anyway, if I could get you three to sign the contract, we can be heading on our way.”  
  
Kara picks up a pen and signs her name without hesitation, Eliza next. Alex looks at the contract and furrows her brow, seemingly contemplating the decision yet again. Lena tries really hard not to grab her hand and sign for her, but she lets Alex ponder and eventually sign her name. They walk outside and Lena’s driver takes their luggage and loads it into the car.  
  
Kara and Alex take turns hugging their mother and Lena glances at her watch. They’re already an hour behind schedule if they want to make it back to National City in time for try-outs, they need to leave.  
  
“Okay,” Lena claps her hands together. “If you’re all finished saying goodbye, we should head out.”  
  
“Actually, I have one more condition,” Kara says with a sly grin. “The four of us won’t comfortably fit in your little Chevrolet out front for four hours, and our truck won’t make the trip, so we’re going to take the train. If you come with us on the train, live like a commoner for a few hours, we’ll go.”  
  
Lena’s eyes narrow into thin slits as she feels herself getting taken advantage of yet again, but if she wants to appease these two potentially amazing baseball players, who probably haven’t touched a bat or glove in years, she needs to do what they want.  
  
“Fine,” Lena says through clenched teeth. “Jess, you head back with David and get everything prepared. Make sure Jack has clean clothes on in time for try-outs. I guess we’ll be riding the train back.”   
  
Lena’s driver drops them off at the train station and Alex goes to purchase their tickets. Kara keeps staring at Lena, who does her best to ignore it. They hear the whistle of the train and Alex jogs over just as the conductor yells, “All aboard!”  
  
“You ready?” Kara asks her sister.  
  
“Here are your tickets,” Alex says, handing one each to Lena and Kara.  
  
“Alex?” Kara says lowly. “You got yourself a ticket, right?”  
  
“We don’t have time for this,” Lena says gruffly.  
  
Alex takes a step back. “I can’t leave mom, Kara. I’m going to stay.”  
  
“Last call! All aboard!”  
  
“Alex.”  
  
“For Christ’s sake.” Lena heads back to the ticket window, cutting in front of a line of people, shoving money through the slot. “I need a ticket to National City.”  
  
“Hey!” a woman yells from behind her. Lena whips her head around and gives the iciest look she can muster and the woman backs down. The cashier slides a ticket through the slot and Lena snatches it up, storming back out. She walks up to Alex, shoves the ticket into her chest and pushes her toward the train that’s starting to move.  
  
“I’m not going,” Alex says, planting her feet into the ground and forcing Lena to run into her.   
  
“Alex, please. I can’t do this without you,” Kara begs.   
  
Lena sighs in frustration. “Look, it’s a four-hour trip. It’s not like you’re moving to Alaska. Go to try-outs, if you make it, decide then. If you don’t, you can return to milking your cows and cleaning shit off of your clothes. Now, let’s go.”  
  
The train is leaving the platform and they have to run to keep up with it. Lena, suddenly glad she isn’t wearing heels, offers the conductor in the last car a hundred dollars if he opens the door for them and he helps them all up. They walk down the aisle and find three empty seats, but Alex heads toward the food car in search of alcohol, or something. Lena and Kara sit across from each other and Kara has a strange smile on her face.  
  
“What?” Lena asks.  
  
“I didn’t think Lena Luthor would be so easy to manipulate. I thought you business-types had nerves of steel,” Kara says, her smile broadening, and Lena rolls her eyes.  
  
“I get what I want by any means necessary.”  
  
“I can see that.” They hold each other’s gaze for a few moments until Alex returns with a bottle of scotch and lets it clatter across the empty seat next to Kara. The trip is mostly quiet, just Kara asking about a few details regarding the try-outs and the league. She asks what National City’s mascot is and Lena tells her they’re the Argonauts and there are five other teams in the league, spread out all over the country.  
  
“Wait, like Jason and the Argonauts?” Alex scoffs. “Our mascot is a group of men?”  
  
“Or a small octopus,” Lena raises a challenging eyebrow. Kara watches the exchange with the same dopey grin on her face and Alex breaks her stare to open the bottle she brought with her.   
  
After drinking a third of the bottle of alcohol, Alex falls asleep on Kara’s shoulder and Lena reaches over to grab for the scotch now that it’s no longer being hoarded. She unscrews it and takes a sip, feeling it burn down her throat. Kara’s staring at her again and the scrutiny is making Lena a little uncomfortable. It makes her feel like the early board meetings where she was trying to find her place within the company and show those men that she wouldn’t be pushed around, which was a little hard to convey when you’re in your early twenties and they were all used to being managed by men. Still, she was able to earn their respect once she took over and pulled them out of the rubble her father made, keeping all of their jobs and salaries intact.   
  
The pale blue eyes that burned their gaze at her now were different, though. Instead of waiting for her to fail, it was like they were waiting for her next move. They were curious.  
  
“So, how does a CEO of a science and tech company become the manager of a baseball team, anyway?”  
  
“You’d have to ask my father that, but that will be a little difficult seeing how he’s dead.” Kara noticeably winces, but doesn’t avert her eyes. Lena takes another sip of her scotch, grimacing at the burn in her throat. “We own the men’s team, too, but we’re obviously low on players, so I only have one team to rebuild.”  
  
“Yeah, what was that all about, anyway? I remember reading the story newspaper how the coach retired first and then every single player volunteered or got drafted. Seems unusual.”  
  
Lena clears her throat, wondering how she can delicately explain how her father was a crooked, embezzling womanizer who most likely harassed every player on the team, so they would have done anything to get away. “My father was not a good man. He lied and cheated whenever he could, didn’t care who he hurt in order to get what he wanted.”  
“And you’re different?”  
  
The question takes Lena by surprise, but there’s no maliciousness behind the words. “I’d like to think so,” she says. “I said I get what I want by any means necessary, but I do have my limits.”  
  
Kara hums, satisfied with that answer. Her stomach rumbles loudly and Lena holds back a laugh. She stands up and walks toward the food car, ordering a couple of sandwiches and some non-alcoholic drinks, taking them back to their seats. Kara slowly reaches for them, trying not to wake Alex up and takes a bite out of the sandwich, closing her eyes and moaning quietly.   
  
Lena smiles and starts eating her own sandwich, checking her watch. They should be back in National City within the next hour and then try-outs begin the next day. She has so much work to do before then and has no idea when she’s going to have the time to do it. After finishing her sandwich and drink, Kara also falls asleep, leaning against the window and Alex still leaning against her.  
  
An announcement comes through the speakers, saying their next stop is National City, so Lena begins cleaning up and throws away all of the trash they’ve accumulated during the trip. As the train comes to a screeching halt, Kara shakes herself awake and sits up, pushing Alex off of her.  
  
“Are we here?”  
  
“We are,” answers Lena as she stands up and waits for the doors to open. Alex picks up their bags and stands behind her. As everyone slowly files out of the train, Lena spots Jess standing off to the side waiting for them. She greets the three of them and walks them to the car. Instead of the usual town car, it’s a larger sedan that will easily seat all of them.  
  
They pile in and buckle their seatbelts.  
  
“We dropped off the Danvers’ larger luggage bags at the hotel you booked their rooms in, ma’am.”  
  
“Good. Then I guess that’s where we should stop first. They can wash up and rest until try-outs tomorrow.” Lena turns her head to look at Alex and Kara, who are staring out the windows in awe as if they’ve never seen skyscrapers before. She clears her throat and Kara startles and looks at her.  
  
“Oh, sorry. What was that?”  
  
“We’re going to drop you off at the hotel and you can rest up until try-outs. I’ll have a car pick you up at seven thirty.”  
  
“Oh, okay. That would be great, thank you. Are you going through this much trouble for any other players?”  
  
“Not exactly, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t mention it to anyone else.”  
  
“Mum’s the word,” Kara smiles, zipping her lips shut. She elbows Alex, who nods in agreement.  
  
When they arrive at the hotel, Kara and Alex take another opportunity to gawk as they stare at the front of the hotel. Lena does admit it’s a little gaudy with all of the gold and the doorman. They exit the vehicle and Lena walks right up to the VIP reception line. She gives her name and the receptionist’s eyes open wide as she fumbles with the keys on the keyboard and gets the room keys situated. Lena takes them with a thank you and hands one each to Kara and Alex.  
  
“You’re on the nineteenth floor, penthouse suite. Your luggage is already in the room, so you don’t need to worry about that. Room service and any other amenities are all on me, so order whatever you’d like. If you need to get ahold of me for any reason, I’ve left my phone number with the front desk and they can call me if necessary. If you don’t have any questions, I’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
“I have one question,” Kara blurts out and Lena looks at her expectantly. “Um.” Her eyes dart toward Alex nervously. “Would you like to come up for a quick drink before you go?” Alex groans behind her sister and drags a hand down her face.  
  
“Thank you for the offer, but I should get going. I have a lot to prepare for before tomorrow.”  
  
“Oh, yeah! Yeah, of course. No doubt. Then I guess we’ll see you then, Coach.”  
  
“I’m not your coach,” Lena says with a slight grin. “You’ll meet him tomorrow. Now, get a good night’s sleep and I’ll see you on the field.”  
  
She turns around and hears Alex smack Kara across the back of the head before chastising her for asking Lena up to their room and Kara says she was just being nice. Lena chuckles to herself before walking out the front and climbing back into the car.  
  
“All set?” Jess asks.  
  
“More or less. Home, please, David. Then take Miss Huang to her residence.” The driver nods and pulls out of the parking lot. Lena mentally goes through her checklist of things she needs to get done before the morning and internally sighs when she accepts the fact that she won’t be getting any sleep.  
  
After she gets dropped off at her apartment, she throws her bag on the ground in the entryway and removes her boots that she put back on after returning Jess’ shoes. She pours herself a glass of wine before sitting at her kitchen table as she looks through proposal after proposal, someone from the design team sent her preliminary sketches of the team’s uniforms and, if she’s being honest, it makes them look like bumblebees.  
  
She walks over to her phone and dials a number, holding the sketches in her hand. The phone rings twice before the other line picks up. A groggy hello is muttered.  
  
“Jack. You do remember that try-outs start tomorrow, right?”  
  
“Yes, yes, of course.” She hears bottles knocking against one another and him telling someone to scram. “I’m ready, completely prepared. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”  
  
“Good, see that you’re there early. Let’s say seven.”  
  
“In the morning?”  
  
“Or the night before if you’d prefer.”  
  
Jack sighs. “Seven A.M. it is.”  
  
Lena hangs up the call and dials another number, halfway hoping no one will answer, but her hopes are dashed when a familiar “Lena!” comes out the other end.   
  
“Hello, Lex.”  
  
“How’s my favorite sister?”  
  
“Your only sister and, apparently, your favorite punching bag. Thanks for leaving me to deal with Dad’s sports legacy on my own.”  
  
“Listen, about that, I’m sorry. You know I’ll help in any way I can, but I’ve never been good with business. Besides, think of all the hot women you get to ogle all season long.”  
Lena hates how Lex does this. He brings up her sexuality like it’s a joke, like all she does is pine after women as if it’s a hobby, when it is, in fact, not something she makes habit of if she can help it. She already has enough on her plate and doesn’t need the distraction, let alone the drama. The last thing the company needs is a scandal about how the new CEO likes to lie with other women, hence why Kara needs to stop staring at her and making her stomach do that weird fluttery thing.  
  
“That’s not why I’m doing this. I’m trying to save our inheritance.”  
  
“Yes, I know. I’m just joking. But hey, it won’t be so bad. At least games are in the spring and it won’t be too hot yet.”  
  
“Great, then you can go to them,” Lena sneers.  
  
“Something tells me the last remaining male Luthor heir won’t be welcome at a women’s sports game. Best I leave that to you. Listen, I gotta go. I’m learning how to roast a pig on a spit before my surfing meet-up. Talk to you later, tell Mom I said hi.” The line clicks dead after that and Lena resists the urge to throw her phone out one of the windows.  
  
After she sits back down, she checks the newspaper to see what people are saying about the baseball league, which turns out to be a huge mistake. As expected, most people (men) are asking why there even needs to be one when they have men’s baseball already and no professional women’s league. They say it makes no sense as it’s not an Olympic sport, there’s no following, and it’s a waste of taxpayers’ dollars to keep it going and they should dismantle the whole thing. Lena rolls her eyes at the responses and throws the newspaper down. She drains the rest of her wine and lets her thoughts drift to Kara, which is not at all what she wants, but she can’t help it when she’s had next to no physical contact with anyone besides herself for the past two years. Part of it is self-imposed, not wanting anything to distract her while she got L-Corp back off the ground and the other part was her not wanting to get attached to anyone, lest they get to know the real her and leave.  
  
Nights like this are few and far between, but when she has them, she wallows in self-pity, wades in the pool of self-deprecation. Kara doesn’t know her, doesn’t know what potential disaster she’s trying to tiptoe around and Lena’s going to make sure she never finds out.   
  
Lena knows that being involved with the team is going to mean she’s going to be close to Kara for the better part of the next five or six months, so she has about that amount of time to figure out how to run a baseball team without being directly involved with the players, or get over whatever this juvenile infatuation with the younger Danvers is. With a sigh, Lena pours herself another glass of wine and takes a sip.  
  
It’s going to be a long season.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, please suspend disbelief when it comes to the freedoms and limits to what women could do in the 1940s.
> 
> Thanks for all of the comments and kudos. They’re always very much appreciated.

The National City baseball field is abuzz with excitement the following morning. Players from all over the state, and even some from surrounding states, are there, tossing balls to one another and running drills. Lena shows up with Jess and immediately looks for Jack. She finds him slumped in one of the seats behind home plate with a baseball cap pulled over his eyes and a string of drool falling off his chin.She walks up to him and kicks his chair, startling him awake.   
  
“Huh-wha?”  
  
“Rise and shine, buttercup. Pull your pants up and get down on the diamond.” She leaves him and goes back down on the field, looking around at the players and scanning the area, not seeing the Danvers sisters anywhere. Looking at her watch, try-outs officially start in five minutes and she’s tempted to call the hotel to see if they’ve left yet.   
  
“Where are your all-stars?” Jack asks gruffly, rinsing his mouth out with his bottle of what looks like water. Just as she’s about to ask if he has alcohol in it, she hears yelling off to the side and sees Kara running toward them.   
  
“We’re here, we’re here! Sorry! We got held up at the hotel. Did you know they serve free breakfast?”  
  
Lena gives Jack a wry smile. “They’re right here, and absolutely precious.”  
  
Alex walks up shortly after, carrying both bags and frowning intensely. She shoves one bag at Kara and leaves to go stretch. Kara let’s out an oof and throws the bag over her shoulder.   
  
“I’d better get ready. See you later, Coach - er, Coaches.” She shoots Lena and wink and heads in Alex’s direction.   
  
Jack is smiling at Lena in an annoyingly smug way.   
  
“Not one word, Jack,” she warns and walks off.   
  
Try-outs begin and Jack runs them through a few drills. They do outfield work, hitting, catching, anything that will help with their decision-making. It turns out that Kara is an excellent fielder, while Alex’s strength lies in her hitting. Though, if anyone asked, she would absolutely not say she was paying more attention to the way the Kara looked in a pair of tight pants, which were absolutely not part of their uniform dress code. There are a few other standouts, as well, that Lena takes note of in her desperate attempt to ignore the curve of Kara’s ass.   
  
Jack trots over during one of their breaks and grins. “So, what do you think? There are a few out there who look pretty good. Those Danvers sisters definitely live up to their name.”  
  
Lena makes a noncommittal noise as she scans through her notes on a clipboard. “Sam Arias shows promise, as do Maggie Sawyer and Nia Nal.   
  
“Yeah, they’re all pretty decent. I think we’ll have a better idea by the end of the day and we can make the first round of cuts,” Jack says. “Need to find our pitchers, too. I’ll have Eve work with them. Pretty sure Kara Danvers pitches.”  
  
“Who the hell is Eve?” Lena asks, finally looking up from her clipboard.   
  
“My assistant coach. Did you expect me to coach a team all by my lonesome?”  
  
“You mean you needed someone to take over while you nurse your hangovers and find your next lay?”  
  
“Tomatoes, tomahtoes.”  
  
Lena rolls her eyes and slaps Jack’s shoulder, wondering if she’s made another grave mistake, but it’s too late now. She looks around and finds a set of blue eyes staring in her direction and feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She gives Kara a small nod and Kara nods back and smiles, throwing a ball back to Alex.  
  
“Better get back out there,” Jack announces. “Team isn’t going to pick itself.”  
  
By the end of the afternoon, the women look absolutely exhausted and Lena stands in front of the crowd. “I just wanted to thank you all for coming out today. Everyone did very well and I think we’ll be able to pick an amazing team to represent National City. We’ll post first cuts tomorrow at seven. If you make it through, please be back here and ready to go at eight sharp. Thanks again, you’re all dismissed.”  
  
The women start packing up their gear and dispersing, most making their way out off the field, but Kara hangs behind with Alex looking irritated, as usual.   
  
“So, uh, did you like what you saw out there today?” Kara asks.   
  
Lena raises an eyebrow. “I think we’ll be able to narrow it down some, yes.”  
  
“Fantastic, great. Today was fun. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to swing a bat, I nearly forgot how to,” Kara says with a nervous laugh.   
  
“Hey, Casanova, can we go? Car’s here and I’m starving,” Alex interrupts.   
  
“Give me a minute!” Kara shouts back. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow? I mean, if I make it through, of course.”  
  
“Yes, I suppose so,” Lena replies coolly. Jack just stands back and watches the awkward train wreck happen.   
  
“Okay, neat,” Kara takes a step back. “Well, see you.” She waves and tips her hat, then nods to Jack.  
  
Lena watches her walk away and then jog to Alex, shaking her head.   
  
“I’m surprised she even acknowledged my existence with the way she was looking at you,” Jack jokes.  
  
“You are on really thin ice, Spheer. Now, let’s go through our notes and figure out who’s getting through to tomorrow.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack mock salutes and follows her. They sit around in Jack’s apartment for the next two hours, figuring out who did and didn’t make the cut. Kara and Alex are obviously on the top of the list for who did make it, but didn’t completely agree with the rest.  
  
“What about her? She’s a power hitter,” Jack points at one of the players’ photos.  
  
“She was terrible on the field, though.”  
  
“She wasn’t that bad. She missed a few catches here and there, but there were worse.”  
  
“No. Who’s next?”  
  
Jack sighs and flips through more of the roster photos, pulling one out. “Kelly Olsen, first base. She did well, has a mean swing.”  
  
“Okay, put her in the ‘maybe’ pile. And her?” Lena points to a photo of a blonde woman.  
  
“Leslie Willis,” Jack reads. “Yeah, she was decent. Outfielder, okay hitter. Seemed more suited for football with the way she slides into home.” Lena puts her into the ‘maybe’ pile, as well. When they have a good number of players to keep for the next day, Lena types them all up and sends the list to Jess to look over and post on the bulletin board the next morning. She heads home shortly after and by the time she arrives at her apartment and is all showered and changed into more comfortable clothing, she receives a phone call from the concierge at the hotel the Danvers sisters are staying in.  
  
Miss Kara Danvers would like to relay the following message to you: ”See you tomorrow, Coach!”   
  
Lena holds the phone away from her ear and snorts, thankful that she’s by herself. Before anything has a chance to bloom, she uproots it right away and hangs up the phone. There’s no use in entertaining an idea that will never take flight.   
  
The next morning, Lena is awake early and takes the liberty to grab a couple of coffees before picking Jack up at his apartment. He stumbles out with a pair of sunglasses on and a hat to cover his unwashed hair, slumping low into the empty seat next to Lena. He greedily reaches for a coffee before taking a hesitant sip.   
  
“Ugh, black coffee? What kind of monster are you?”  
  
“One who cares about your well-being,” Lena responds, poking Jack in the belly.  
  
When they’d first met, Jack was on their college baseball team, as fit as he’d ever been, but after the injury, along with a few benders here and a broken engagement there and he was never the same. Lena pitied him and even after she’d have to bail him out of jail or clean up his messes, he was still the closest thing she had to a friend. He was the only one besides Lex who knew how she felt about women and she remembered crying into his lap when she told him.  
  
They pull up to L-Corp Field and walk inside to start setting up and Lena’s surprised to see Alex and Kara already there warming up. They’re the first ones there and Alex is hitting grounders to Kara, who’s scooping them up easily. They switch off after that and Lena sit in the stands with her clipboard in hand while they wait for the other players to arrive.   
  
She swears Kara’s looking at her every time she looks away and it unnerves her, because she may just be hoping that’s what’s happening. Then she notices that Jack is definitely staring at he as he sits in the next seat over.   
  
“What is it, Jack?”  
  
“You keep looking at the Danvers sister.”  
  
“Yes, well, we’re recruiting this team, are we not? She’s out there practicing and I’m watching for her strengths.”  
  
“You sure it isn’t more than that? When’s the last time you went out on a date?”  
  
“When’s the last time you minded your business?” Lena snaps back. She sighs and apologizes. “It’s nothing, honestly. Is she attractive? Obviously, but I’m not looking for anything serious.”  
  
“Who said it has to be serious? Maybe she’s looking for a friend to share some benefits with.”  
  
Lena laughs. “You’re such an idiot. Something like that will only end messily and I’d rather not deal with that drama.”  
  
“Suit yourself. You think she’s into men?” Lena slaps him on the arm and sees a group of players walk in.  
  
“Thank god,” she mutters to herself and walks over to greet everyone, calling Jack over, as well.   
  
The first person she introduces herself to is Maggie Sawyer, second base. Next is Lucy Lane, shortstop. She played some baseball as a teen, but stopped after pursuing a law degree.   
  
Once everyone has arrived, Lena picks two team captains, Alex and Kara Danvers, naturally, and has them choose their own teams. They’re going to play a scrimmage game and see how they all play as a team, with people they don’t know well. Lena figures if they can play well with relative strangers, they’ll do find once they get to know one another.   
  
After Alex and Kara choose their teams, Jack flips a coin to see who bats first. Kara’s team wins the toss and they get ready to bat. Alex puts on all of her catcher’s gear and sets up behind home plate. A woman named Nia Nal steps up to the mound and throws a couple practice pitches and they fly down right across the center of the plate into Alex’s awaiting glove. She’s young, but shows a lot of promise, according to Jack.  
  
Jack signals for the first batter and up walks a girl named Gayle Marsh. She digs her cleat into the dirt of the batter’s box and waits for the first pitch. Nia throws it inside and Gayle takes a ball. The second pitch is a slider, which Gayle swings at and the crack of the bat sends it flying out toward right field and it’s caught by Siobhan Smythe.  
Lena notes that down and watches as the next batter comes up. They get through a couple more batters and two outs when it’s Kara’s turn to hit. The blonde walks up, swinging the bat to loosen herself up and steps up to the plate. Nia throws the first pitch high and Kara swings and misses.   
  
“Lay off the high ones,” Lena hears Alex scold.   
  
Kara doesn’t say anything and just tightens her grip on the bat. Second pitch is low and away for a ball. Third pitch is high again and Kara swings and misses for her second strike. She’s visibly frustrated and Lena glances at Jack, who furrows his brow. Next pitch is a fastball through the middle and Kara swings at it, hitting it high and far. Her team cheers and hoots as the ball sails over the fence for a home run. Kara pumps her fist in the air as she rounds the bases and gives Alex a high five when she reaches home.   
  
“Impressive,” Jack notes. “And here I thought she was a better fielder.”  
  
“She does have a weak spot for those high pitches, though,” Lena says.   
  
“Yeah, but that can be fixed. I wouldn’t worry.”  
  
The rest of the game goes on and Lena and Jack continue watching and making notes. By the end, Kara’s team wins by one run and she gloats in Alex’s face for a full five minutes.   
  
Lena has everyone huddle around in a circle. “I want to thank you all again for coming to try out for the team. Jack, Eve, and I have our work cut out for us. We’re going to break for lunch now, for let’s say three hours, and by the time we all meet back here, the roster should be set. Anything you want to add, Jack?”  
  
Jack steps forward and clears his throat. “I’m going to admit, I didn’t want to be here. The idea of coaching a bunch of lady ball players was definitely not on my radar, but after seeing you all practice out there, I can see the potential you all have, so thanks to Miss Luthor and to all of you for allowing me to get off my lazy, drunk ass and do something worthwhile. Good luck.”  
  
Everyone is excused and starts to walk back inside the stadium, where Lena paid for a catered lunch. Lena and Jack head into one of the clubhouses and have their lunch brought to them there. They thoroughly discuss each player, their strengths and weaknesses, and come up with a tentative roster of nine, plus a few substitutes.  
  
“Okay, so if we have Kara pitching, who’s her back-up?”  
  
“Nia was pretty impressive. Even if she normally plays second base, she can be back-up pitcher and we can rotate players around,” Eve suggests.  
  
Lena looks at Nia’s file and reads it over a few times. “What did we say the age cut-off was? Twenty-one?”  
  
“Yeah, why?” Jack asks.   
  
“Nia doesn’t turn twenty-one until May.”  
  
“Shit,” Jack says with a grunt as he takes the file. “What do we do? You’re a stickler for rules. If we give her special treatment, that leaves room for them to keep asking for more.”  
  
“We have to cut her,” Lena sighs. “It’s a shame, too. She can try out again next season.”  
  
They finish choosing their team and everyone slowly starts trickling back onto the field. Jess posts the roster once everyone is back and the women rush to it to find their names. One-by-one, women who didn’t make it hang their heads and thank Lena and Jack for the opportunity and Jack encourages them to try again next season. When Nia walks up to the roster and doesn’t see her name, she’s visibly upset and Lena notices Kara walking up to her to console her.  
  
Alex walks up to them on a mission. “Why wasn’t Nia chosen? Her ability is unmatched, this is ridiculous.” Nia and Kara walk up behind her.  
  
“She didn’t make the age cut-off,” Lena says regretfully.   
  
“Wh—how old are you, Nia?”  
  
Nia looks at the ground. “Twenty. I don’t turn twenty-one until May.”  
  
Alex’s arm tightens around Nia’s shoulder. “Why does her age matter? If it’s because of maturity or some misplaced sense of responsibility, Kara and I will look after her. Nia’s got her parents’ permission to be here. What else do you want?”  
  
“There are rules, Miss Danvers,” Lena articulates, clutching her clipboard. This confrontation is making her uncomfortable and she’s not quite sure why. She’s not a stranger to it, but the way Kara’s looking at her with disappointment adds to the discomfort.

“She’d be able to enlist, but can’t play baseball?“ Kara asks with a frown.  
  
“That’s a bullshit rule,” Alex spits. If she doesn’t play, I ain’t playing.”  
  
“Me neither,” Kara adds.  
  
Nia takes a step forward. “Please, Miss Luthor. This has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I finally have a chance to show my parents I haven’t wasted my life and to finally get out of my small town, who doesn’t even think I should exist. I won’t disappoint you, I promise.”  
  
Lena looks at Jack helplessly and he just shrugs.  
  
“She does turn twenty-one in the middle of the season. What if we use her as a sub until then?”  
  
With a clench of her jaw, she types some things into her tablet, whispers something to Jess, and then looks back up at the three women staring at her. “Don’t make me regret this. Welcome to the Argonauts, Nia.”  
  
Kara cheers and lifts Nia up, spinning her around in a circle. She gives Lena a grateful smile and high fives her sister. They jog back out to the field to join the rest of their teammates. Lena explains how things are going to work – those who aren’t local have the option of living together on a large property that the Luthor family owns. They will be given a weekly stipend in addition to whatever their contracts agree to. She tells them that whatever happens behind closed doors is their responsibility and she’s not their babysitter, but to use good judgement, especially if it’s a game night.  
  
Kara walks up to Lena after most of the women have taken off to either pack or let their families know about the results. She has a gentle smile on her face.  
  
“Thanks for doing that for Nia. That was mighty nice of you.”  
  
“Yes, well, when two of my players give me no choice, I have to compromise.” Kara looks a little sheepish and digs her hands into her pockets.  
  
“We won’t let you down.”  
  
“See that you don’t, Miss Danvers,” Lena replies with the corner of her lip turned up into a slight smile.  
  
Alex claps Kara on the shoulder. “We should get back to the hotel and pack.”  
  
“Oh, right. Should we call a taxi? Do they even have taxis here?”  
  
“We could give you a lift,” Jack offers, walking up beside Lena. “I was going to go out for some celebratory drinks and drag this one out, anyway,” he says, slinging a heavy arm over Lena’s shoulder. She wants to push it off, but forces a smile instead.   
  
“Oh, sure, that would be great, actually,” Kara grins. Jack gestures toward the parking lot and Lena walks beside him, pinching the skin above his elbow, and he yelps in pain.   
  
“What are you doing?” Lena asks through clenched teeth.   
  
“I’m being nice to our star players,” he answers, rubbing his arm. “You should thank me.”  
  
“This is highly unprofessional. I keep telling you we can’t show favoritism.”  
  
“Relax,” Jack says in an attempt to appease her. “This will be good for us in the end.”  
  
They arrive at the hotel and Jack starts dragging Lena of toward the hotel bar when Kara jogs up to them. “Hey, we’re going to grab something to eat. Did you two want to join us? I’m sure they have alcohol at the restaurant.”  
  
Lena gives Jack a look of warning, which he promptly ignores when he accepts the invitation. Lena realizes she’s definitely made a mistake hiring Jack. Dinner is relatively tame. Jack carries the conversation, for the most part, asking Kara and Alex questions about their time playing baseball in high school and skirts around the reason why they stopped playing.   
  
It’s torture for Lena, sitting there and trying not to think about her family being the reason that they stopped pursuing their dreams to play baseball together afterwards. She knows she’s trying to make up for it now, but she has to be smart and impartial. It’s a good thing that the sisters’ talent speaks for itself and anyone would be crazy to fight her on signing them.   
  
After finishing dinner and sharing a couple drinks, Kara leans over to Jack and asks, “So, how long have you and Lena known each other?”  
  
“Oh, we go way back. We had a lot of fun together, didn’t we, babe?”  
  
“Call me ‘babe’ again and you can kiss your salary goodbye.”  
  
“Ouch,” Jack soothes his bruised ego with another sip of his drink.   
  
Alex left them a while ago, stating she needed extra time to pack and relax before being stuck inside of a house with a bunch of other women. Kara and Jack have a grand old time together, trading stories, and most of Jack’s involve her. It should be embarrassing, but hearing Kara laugh makes it sting a little less.   
  
“She really did that?”  
  
“Yup. Walked right up to the guy and insulted his manhood in front of all of his drinking buddies. Classic Lena.”  
  
Lena attempts to find something to distract herself, but her glass is empty. She looks at her watch and sighs when she sees what time it is.   
  
“We should wrap this up. I have a lot of contracts to draw up for tomorrow.”  
  
Kara deflates a little when she looks up at the clock at the bar. “Yeah, Alex is probably going to kill me for staying here so long.”  
  
Jack scoffs. “Better to get as much rest as you can now. I hear groups of women living together is quite entertaining.”  
  
Lena rolls her eyes at him. “You are useless. Anyway, thank you, Kara. This was fun. Please get some rest and we’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
“Sure thing, Coach. Looking forward to it,” Kara grins and stands up. She pulls a few bills out of her wallet to leave as a tip and tosses them onto the table.   
“I’m not your coach,” Lena retorts with an amused lilt in her voice. Jack sends her off with a wave and Lena just nods and ignores Jack’s gaze. She makes her way to the lobby entrance and Jack tries to keep up. “You went full ice queen back there. What gives?”  
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lena replies, walking toward their car.  
  
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. We were having fun back there and you shut down the same way you always do.”  
  
“Listen, Jack,” she stops dead in her tracks and pokes a finger into his chest. “I am not about to start fraternizing with my employees just because you have a hard-on for one of them. This team is a business and I intend to treat it like one.”  
  
“Whoa, Jesus. Okay, first of all, I don’t have a hard-on for any of them. That would be awkward and probably unsavory, considering I’m going to be their coach. Second, your employees? Seriously? You manage the team, they aren’t your direct employees.”  
  
They get to the car and Lena climbs in first, instructing the drive to go to her apartment first before dropping Jack off.   
  
“Lena, honestly, I don’t get why you’re being so weird about this.”  
  
“I’m not being weird, I’m being careful. I just got L-Corp out of the shit my father left it in and I’ll be damned if I start another scandal.”  
  
“You’re serious about this,” Jack says incredulously.  
  
“Dead serious.”  
  
Jack throws his hands in the air, clearly defeated by Lena’s stubbornness and is quiet the rest of the way. Lena is grateful for the silence, so she can think about how she’s going to put an end to Kara’s little infatuation with her. Once their team is set up and the contracts signed, she’ll let Jack take over and anything else she has to manage will be in the background, far, far away from the players.  
  
When they pull up in front of Lena’s apartment building, Jack blows her a kiss out the car window and she rolls her eyes. She has a lot of work to do before the next day, which includes drawing up at least twenty contracts, have her design team come up with new uniforms, and also figure out what the practice and game schedules were going to look like. If she plays her cards right, she can schedule important L-Corp meetings at the same time as the home games, so she’ll have excuses why she can’t go. It’s juvenile, but it’s necessary.  
  
At three in the morning, Lena finally climbs into bed and sinks into her pillows and mattress. Her bones and joins are sore from sitting hunched over her paperwork for hours, but at least she doesn’t have anything else to worry about for the time being – that is, until her phone rings. She grunts and climbs out of bed, stumbling into the living room and answering it.  
  
“Do you know what time it is?”  
  
“ _Miss Luthor?_ ”  
  
“Yes, who is this?”

“ _This is Officer Hammond from the National City Police. We have a Miss… Danvers here. She said you’re her emergency contact in the area, but I know you’re a busy woman and don’t want to be bothered with this sort of thing_.”  
  
“So, why are you bothering me?” Lena grumbles.   
  
“ _There was an incident at a local bar, fight broke out, couple-a men sent to the hospital._ ”  
  
Lena sighs and sits up, turning her lamp on. “Okay, and what does this have to do with Miss Danvers? Also, is it Kara or Alex?”  
  
“ _Kara, ma’am, and she’s the one who sent the men to the hospital_.”  
  
“For fuck’s sake,” Lena pinches the bridge of her nose. “Fine. Is she at the precinct?”  
  
“ _Yes, ma’am. On Third and Niagra_.”  
  
“Okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” She hangs up and gets back out of bed, shedding her pajamas and putting on something she can be seen in public in. She grabs her keys and heads down to the lot and finding her car. Speeding out of the parking garage, she heads to the police station and parks in the temporary parking spot out front, grabbing her bag and marching inside. She’s met by the officer on duty and tells her she’s there for Kara.  
  
“Oh, the charming young thing? Right this way,” she says, walking through the station. Kara is sitting with a crowd of officers around her, waving her arms in the air and making them all laugh. She has an ice pack taped to one of her hands, but that doesn’t stop her from being far too animated after being taken to a police station. The second she spots Lena, she puts her hands down and looks like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.  
  
“Coach, hi. I’m so sorry for making you come all the way out here. A few of us went back out to a bar to celebrate making it onto the team and this group of guys started harassing Kelly, so I put ‘em in their place, but then the cops got called. Alex is in a holding cell for spitting on one of the officers and I didn’t know who else to call.”  
  
“I’m not your coach,” Lena says and walks over to one of the Lieutenants. “How much is Alex Danvers’ bail?”  
  
“Oh, she’s not under arrest. We just kept her in there, so she wouldn’t hurt herself and could sleep it off.”  
  
“Will you please take Miss Danvers to her sister and I’ll sign any paperwork you need me to sign in order to get out of here.”  
  
“Of course, Miss Luthor,” one of the officers says and takes Kara to the cells. Lena ends up signing a few papers and Kara comes back out, holding Alex up.   
  
“Thank you, officers,” she chirps happily.  
  
“Thank you, officers,” Alex repeats mockingly. “You’re such a kiss-ass.”  
  
“And both of you are in a lot of trouble,” Lena frowns. “I ask you to do one thing, to stay out of trouble, and you get into a bar fight not even a day after you’ve been on the team. I expected more from you both.”   
  
“I couldn’t just stand by and let those men keep saying those things to Kelly,” Kara argues. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”  
  
“Well, if there’s a next time, you’ll be off the team,” Lena says with finality and walks outside to the car. Kara puts Alex in the back and sits in the front passenger seat. “And you’d better not vomit in my car,” she says to Alex. The engine of the car comes to life as she pulls away from the curb and drives toward the Luthor estate, where the team resides. She doesn’t say a word the whole drive there and Kara appears to know better than to start an unwanted conversation when Lena is clearly upset.  
  
When they pull up the driveway, Kelly and a few others are waiting outside nervously. Kara gets out of the car and grabs Alex. Sam and Maggie come forward to take her inside, while Kelly walks up to Lena.  
  
“Miss Luthor, please don’t punish Kara and Alex, they were only trying to protect me. A couple of men started getting really handsy and commenting on my being there. I told them to stop, but they wouldn’t. Then Kara came up and told them to knock it off and one of them threw a punch, so Kara had to break a pool cue across his face. It wasn’t her fault.”  
  
Lena crosses her arms over her chest. “Well, I certainly can’t condone this type of behavior and expect all of you to be more responsible in the future. While it does bode well that you’re all getting along already, I’m afraid you’re all going to be under curfew for the foreseeable future.”  
  
“What, like we’re children?” Leslie yells from the doorway of the house. “It’s not my fault, Danvers can’t rein it in.”  
  
“You’re a team now. What one does reflects on all of you. You’ll do well to remember that, Miss Willis.” Leslie storms off back inside the house and Kara looks even more miserable. Taking pity on Kara, Lena reaches forward and touches the blonde’s bare bicep and it feels like her entire body’s been electrocuted. She tamps it down and clears her throat. “I am appreciative of what you’ve done, and I’m sure Kelly is, too. It’s good to see that you’re willing to stand up for your teammates.”  
  
“I’d stand up for anyone who needed me to,” Kara replies.  
  
“Well, aren’t you a regular superhero,” Lena says with a scoff, dropping her hand. Kara looks a little saddened at the loss. “Anyway, I should be going. It’s,” she looks at her watch, “Jesus, it’s four A.M. I have meetings and contract signings all day tomorrow.”  
  
“I’m really sorry,” Kara grimaces, shoving her hands back into her pockets, something she seems to do when she’s nervous.  
  
“It’s fine. Get some sleep, Miss Danvers.”  
  
“Okay, well, see you tomorrow, Coach.” Kara walks back toward the house and looks over her shoulder once before walking inside and closing the door. Lena exhales and shakes her head at herself. She really needs to get it together.   
  
“Not your coach,” she whispers at the closed door to the house and walks back to her car, sitting in the lush leather seat. She turns the engine on and drives down the long driveway out into the street and back toward her apartment. By the time she gets home, she can either sleep for two hours, or start her day and get all of the contracts ready for signatures. She opts for the latter and reads through everything once more.  
  
Everyone’s salaries are set, giving each player a nice signing bonus. In order to keep everything fair, they all get paid the same with the option for extra incentives throughout the season based on performance. She reads through Jack and Eve’s contracts, they’re both signed on for one season each, with the option to extend their contracts if they want. Everything seems to be in order and now all Lena has to do is wait.   
  
She heads to the L-Corp office early, which is where the team would be meeting to sign their contracts. Each player would be invited into the boardroom, one-by-one, read over the contract and add any additional conditions they may want, then sign away the next year of their life. At nine o’ clock sharp, her first player is escorted into the room – Sam Arias, third base. They discuss the parameters of the contract and the only thing Sam requests is the option to bring her daughter Ruby with them on away games if she can’t find a babysitter. Lena agrees and they sign the contract together.  
  
For the next few hours, Lena meets with players, sign contracts, and near the end, both Alex and Kara Danvers walk in.  
  
“Hey, Coach,” Kara greets her with a smile.   
  
“Kara, Alex,” she returns the greeting. “Usually, players sign their contracts alone. There’s this whole privacy thing.”  
  
“Well, that’s not really an issue here. We want our contracts bound together, so we get paid the same and nothing differs between the two. We want them to be fair.”   
  
Lena leans back in her cushy chair and folds her fingers together. “Everyone’s contract is essentially the same. The only thing yours has is the additional clause to hire farm hands for your mother’s ranch,” she says.  
  
“Well, we just wanted to make sure, since I’m only here because Kara is,” Alex informs her. “I don’t want there to be any animosity between the two of us should something happen that makes one of us stand out more. No matter what, we get paid the same and if one of us should decide to quit, it’ll be up to the other whether or not to stay or go, not the team’s.”  
  
“I don’t see a problem with that,” Lena says. “I’ll have my assistant draft up a new contract and have it to you by tomorrow. Was there anything else?”  
  
Kara looks at Alex and her sister jerks her head toward Lena, as if to tell her to say something. The blonde takes a step forward. “Um, yeah, actually. I had some ideas for our jerseys, even though I’m sure you already have a full team working on it. I just drew some stuff up in my free time and- you know what, it’s not a big deal.” She holds the papers close to her chest and Lena extends a hand out to her, expectantly. With the arch of an eyebrow, she stares at Kara until she relinquishes her drawings and Lena begins flipping through them. They’re good, really good. Her design team was talented, sure, but they’d all gone to art school, or worked for Disney previously. Kara worked on a farm.  
  
“These are… incredible,” she breathes out.  
  
“Really?” Kara asks, perking up.   
  
“Yes. I’ll take these to my team to see what we can make with them. Anything else?”  
  
Kara’s about to shake her head when Alex steps forward next to her sister. “I’m assuming you’ll pay Kara if you use her design.”  
  
Lena smiles, impressed by Alex’s boldness. “Of course. I always pay my employees for their work. Now, if there’s nothing else,” she stands up and escorts the sisters toward the door.  
  
“Thank you, Miss Luthor,” Alex says and walks out the door. Kara lingers a little and gives her a tiny nod before following.   
  
After Lena finishes up with the players’ contracts, she meets with Jack and Eve to discuss their own.  
  
“I want a bottle of top shelf whiskey available on every bus, some alone time every night, if you know what I mean, and a hefty bonus if we make it to the championships.”  
Lena stares at Jack, unamused, and he gives her the biggest shit-eating grin. Eve’s requests are much simpler, just asking for her own hotel room during away games and having a say in her pitcher rotation. Lena approves her requests and they sign the contract together, but Jack continues sitting across from her after Eve leaves the room.  
“So, we have our team,” he says.  
  
“We do,” Lena replies, gathering all of the paperwork. She buzzes the call button and asks Jess to come into the boardroom.  
  
“We have our star players, as well,” Jack smiles and winks at her. Lena ignores it and hands off the last of the contracts to her assistant.”  
  
“Please take these to the lawyers. Mr. Spheer will provide his shortly.” She directs her attention back to the man in front of her. “We do. What’s your point, Jack?”  
  
“I’m just impressed that you were able to turn all of this around. Three weeks ago, you had no coach, no team, and now look. We’re practically ready to go.”  
  
“You didn’t doubt me, did you?” Lena asks, walking over to the minibar on the side of the room, pouring them both a drink.  
  
“I would never,” Jack smiles as he takes his glass. He raises it toward Lena, who clinks them together before taking a sip. “Though, if I were a betting man, I’d wager you and the younger Danvers sister take a tumble before the end of the regular season.”  
  
“Not happening, Jack,” Lena says, sitting down again. “And if you’re smart, you won’t bring it up again.”  
  
“Come on, Lena. When’s the last time you slept with someone, anyway? I can’t have been the last time.” Lena squares her jaw and clenches her teeth before taking a silent sip. “Oh, shit. It was me? That was, like, six years ago! And that hardly counts, we were both incredibly drunk and I don’t even remember if we even finished—”  
  
“We were drunk, it doesn’t count. Now, I have a lot of work to do, so if you’ll excuse me,” Lena stands up and gathers her things.   
  
“Jesus, Lena, do yourself a favor and go get laid. It doesn’t even have to be the Danvers sister – just, someone, anyone! I can make a call, if you want. I don’t want you to forget how everything works.”  
  
Lena rolls her eyes and brushes past him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jack. Practice starts at eight o’ clock. If you’re late, I’ll start docking your pay.”  
  
“And if you’re late, I’ll congratulate you on ending your dry spell.”  
  
Lena throws a pen at his head before leaving the boardroom.

* * *

By the time she gets back to her apartment, Lena’s feet are aching from being in heels all day and she feels a headache inching its way to the back of her skull. She starts to draw herself a bath, so she can soak herself and attempt to catch up on her book, but just as she’s about to climb in, her phone rings. She groans and answers it.  
  
“ _Coach?_ ”  
  
“Yes,” she sighs. She’s given up on correcting the incorrect title and it’s actually kind of growing on her.  
  
“ _It’s Kara. Kara Danvers. Sorry to bother you so late_.”  
  
The time isn’t what Lena’s paying attention to, but rather how Kara got her phone number in the first place. Perhaps she used the operator.  
  
“ _It’s fine. How can I help you, Miss Danvers?_ ”  
  
“ _Um, Coach Spheer told me that I should give you a call and that you had something you needed to tell me?_ ”  
  
Jack fucking Spheer. Lena’s going to murder him. She’s going to kill him dead and then go on the lam for the rest of her life, possibly buy an island to hide on. Lex would know what to do.  
  
“Oh, right, yes. I just wanted to tell you that the contract is all ready for you to sign in the morning, so be at practice a half hour early, so we can go over it together.” Lying comes as a second nature to Lena. Being in business, she’s had to become accustomed to bending the truth more often than not.  
  
“ _Oh! I’ll let Alex know. I’ll see you tomorrow, then?_ ”  
  
“Yes, see you tomorrow.”  
  
“Okay. Swell. Um, bye!”  
  
Lena hangs up and stares at her phone dumbly and hangs it back up on the ringer. She finally climbs into the bath, sinking into the water and exhaling, letting her hands slide down her torso to her hips. Maybe Jack’s right, maybe she should find someone to sleep with, as a one-off, use ‘em and lose ‘em, or what have you. In the meantime, she can do what she can to take care of everything herself.  
  
Her hands dip lower between her thighs and she lets out a soft gasp when her fingertips brush against her sensitive skin. She tries to envision people she’s been attracted to in the past. Jack is absolutely off-limits now, since they work together; one of her classmates from MIT was definitely a conservative, so that wouldn’t work; her thoughts then drift to someone with honey blonde hair and a smile that lights up entire rooms. Her fingers rub tight circles around her clit as her breaths become more ragged as the vision’s face starts to clear up and she sees Kara’s cocky grin in her mind. Her fingers move furiously as her other hand grips the edge of the bathtub, water splashing up against the sides, as she thinks about Kara’s lips on her skin. She wonders if Kara’s hands are rough and calloused from working on the farm, or if they’re soft like hers. Her mind is racing through all of the different things she wants Kara to do to her, most things she’d never do, or want to do, with a man. The tightness in her belly finally releases as her toes curl and back arches and she lets out a final, shuddering breath.  
  
Lena opens her eyes blearily and realizes what she’s done, her heart beats starting to slow. She sits up and covers her face with her hands in embarrassment, knowing that she’s crossed a serious line and there’s no going back from it. She rests her arms on top of her knees and tries to figure out how she’s supposed to face Kara, both at practice in the morning and throughout the rest of the season. This has never happened to her before, she’s always been able to separate personal relationships from professional ones and she doesn’t understand why Kara Danvers is any different.  
  
Well, she knows why, but she doesn’t want to admit it. It’s been a long time since she’s allowed herself to become attracted to someone and of course it has to be one of the players. She gets out of the bathtub and drains it, wrapping a towel around her body. She walks over to her bed and sits down, grabbing the first player file on her nightstand.  
  
Lena stares at the photo in Kara’s file for far too long, while muttering a simple, “Fuck.”


	3. Chapter 3

Lena arrives at the stadium a half hour early, preparing the last of the contracts and making sure everything is ready for practice. The employees are out chalking the baselines and the batters’ boxes, painting their logo into the grass, even though it’s just a practice. Lena wanted it to look as good as it would for an actual game, just to get everyone in the mood. Jack waltzes into the office where Lena’s waiting for him to finish signing his contract. He reads through it briefly and frowns.  
  
“This doesn’t say anything about whiskey or alone time.”  
  
“I am not paying for your vices, Jack. That’s all on you. I’m paying you enough, you can afford it.”  
  
“Fine,” Jack pouts and signs on the dotted line. He looks over his shoulder and sees Kara and Alex waiting in the hallway. “Did you like your surprise last night?”  
  
Lena narrows her eyes at him. “If you give out my phone number without my consent again, I will make sure you’ll never be able to enjoy your alone time.”   
  
Jack gulps and nods. “Point taken. Just thought you could use a hand. Anyway, our stars are waiting. I’ll leave you to it.” He straightens his baseball hat and leaves the office, nodding a hello to the sisters. Kara cracks the door open and waits for Lena to wave them inside. She slaps the new contract down in front of them and allows them some time to read through it.  
  
“We’ve added the condition that neither one of you will be paid more than the other, as well as the contract you signed in Midvale about additional farmhands we’re sending to the farm to help your mother, free of charge. Did we forget anything else?”  
  
“It looks good to me. What about you, Alex?”  
  
Alex furrows her brow while she continues reading through it all, one word at a time, making sure she doesn’t miss anything.  
  
“I assure you, Miss Danvers, there’s no hidden agenda or loophole in there. Everything we agreed to is there,” Lena says while gripping the pen in her hand and holding it out. Alex takes it, finally, and signs her name underneath her sister’s and pushes the papers across the table back to Lena, who signs it, as well. “Thank you both very much. Should you have any other questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to ask.”  
  
“We should go get ready for practice,” Kara says.  
  
“Right, of course. You know the way to the locker rooms, I assume?”  
  
Kara nods. “It was part of orientation.”  
  
“Good, both of you should have lockers assigned next to each other. The showers are there, as well, should you need them afterwards.” Lena really hopes the warmth traveling up her neck at the mention of a shower isn’t visible and by the looks on Kara and Alex’s faces, it isn’t yet.  
  
“Thanks, Coach,” Kara smiles and Lena wishes she wouldn’t, so she looks down at the able and straightens up the already straightened contracts.  
  
Alex looks between the two of them and rolls her eyes, tugging at Kara’s elbow and practically dragging her out. When they’ve gone, Lena can finally release the breath she held in her lungs and sits down, resting her head in her hands. A knock on the door startles her and she sees Jess standing at the door.  
  
“Everything set?”  
  
“Yes, here’s the last of the contracts, thank you.” She hands Jess Jack’s and the Danvers’ contract, and stands up. “Is the team here yet?”  
  
“Everyone is present and accounted for. Jack is setting up some drills now.”  
  
“Excellent, I’ll be out there in a moment. Can you have Betty bring down the jersey mock-ups?”  
  
“Of course, Miss Luthor,” Jess says, excusing herself. Lena exits the office and walks to the elevator that will take her down to the ground floor. She has a good feeling about everything, feels like it’s all falling into place. She pats herself on the shoulder for a job well done after her brother left her with a broken team and not much to work with. She just has to make sure they succeed throughout their season. When the elevator doors slide open, she walks out and makes her way to the seats behind home plate. They’re still running warm-ups and are split into two groups – one group is scooping up grounders hit by Jack and the other is stretching with Eve. Lena looks around and imagines the stands being filled with fans, sipping on their sodas and eating their hotdogs, cheering for her team.   
  
Her team.  
  
It’s certainly a different feeling having a fanbase that follows something other than what she’s directly involved with. She isn’t a player, just someone in the background managing it all from her office high above the field. After warm-ups are over, Betty wheels out some boxes onto the grass and all of the players gather around. Lena makes her way down there, as well, and tears open one of the boxes.  
  
“A team needs jerseys, right? As a way to completely rebrand the National City Argonauts, I’ve had my design team create new logos. And, with the help of Miss Danvers, this is what we came up with. She holds up a navy blue shirt with golden yellow writing and a golden ram’s head protruding out of the center. “These will be the away jerseys and the home jerseys will look like this.” She pulls out another shirt – this one heather gray with navy writing and gold trim. “Our mascot is Reginald Ram we’ll be holding try-outs sometime next week.”  
  
A hand gets raised.  
  
Lena points to the raised hand and Leslie chimes in. “If we’re the Argonauts, why is the mascot a ram? Weren’t the Argonauts a bunch of men who followed this one guy around?”   
  
“If you’d prefer, I can have a half-naked man running around the field trying to hype people up. Or, if you want to go even further, I can have our mascot be a cephalopod.”  
  
“I’m not into that kind of pornography, thanks,” Leslie replies, wrinkling her nose.  
  
“It’s a ram because of the golden fleece,” Lucy adds. “I think it’s cool. Good job, Danvers.” Kara looks over at her teammate and beams proudly as Alex puts an arm around her shoulder.   
  
“All right, we still have a practice to finish,” Jack says, clapping his hands together. “Batting practice next, get your bats.”  
  
Lena walks back up to the stands and sits down behind the dugout this time to get a better view of the batters. Jess sits down next to her with a tablet, bringing up everyone’s files.  
  
“Maggie Sawyer, right hander, batting average .251.”   
  
They watch everyone take their turn at bat and when Kara walks up, Lena holds her breath. Kara throws a couple practice swings before stepping into the box, digging her foot into the dirt.  
  
“Kara Danvers, switch hitter, batting average .301.”  
  
Lena’s brain malfunctions when she hears the word ‘switch’ and almost misses a foul ball coming right at her head. Jess pushes her out of the way and it flies into the row behind them. Kara drops her bat and runs over.  
  
“Oh god, oh god, oh god. I am so sorry. Are you two okay?”  
  
Lena flattens the top of her ponytail down and takes stock of herself. “We’re fine. You aren’t the first to want to take my head off, Miss Danvers.” Kara furrows her brow and curls her mouth into an adorable pout. “I’m serious, there’s nothing to worry about. Get back to practice.”  
  
Kara turns hesitantly and walks back to the field, picking up her back and stepping back up to plate. She takes two more strikes and Alex removes her catcher’s mask before saying something to Kara. She crouches down again and Eve throws a few more pitches until Kara finally hits one into left field and Alex pats her on the shoulder.   
  
The rest of practice goes relatively well. Jack turns out to be a decent coach when he’s not hungover and they seem to have a well-balanced team. It makes Lena somewhat excited about the upcoming season, but nervous at the same time. She knows she’ll be under a lot of scrutiny, especially with the company’s past and people are going to hold her under a microscope to make sure her business practices aren’t following in her father’s footsteps.   
  
The next two weeks are full of practices and promotions. For whatever reason, Lena thought it would be a good idea to do a photoshoot with her new team and to add it to that month’s L-Corp newsletter. She has the team meet at the office and they find a room that can be cleared and turned into a makeshift photography studio. Again, hindsight is 20/20 and Lena didn’t think things through, especially when her head of promotions had the brilliant idea of also making a swimsuit issue to sell as a special collector’s edition of the magazine.   
  
Lena is surrounded by women and way too much skin, and if she hadn’t trained herself to remain calm in every type of situation, she absolutely would have been blushing up a storm. Kara walks up in a light blue skirt and a bikini top, and Lena’s throat suddenly becomes as dry as the Mojave. She swats at a random intern who walks by and tells them to get her a glass of water quickly and he scurries off, but it’s too late, because Kara is walking toward her.  
  
“Hey, Coach! This is such a great idea. I know I should be against the whole objectification of women, but I think normalizing it and making it tasteful is great! Besides, I think we convinced Jack to join in, too.”  
  
“With his beer belly?” Lena asked with a disgusted look on her face.  
  
“Yeah! It’s going to be amazing. Are you going to take photos with us?”  
  
“Not a chance,” Lena answers plainly.   
  
“Aw, come on. Where’s your team spirit?”  
  
“I have plenty of team spirit in the form of funds that go directly into the team. It’s about time,” she tells the intern, who’s just returned with the glass of water. She takes a big gulp to quench her eternally parched throat. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be posing suggestively, or something?”  
  
Kara laughs and crosses her arms over her chest, which does Lena absolutely no favors. In fact, it just draws more attention to her arms. She screams internally and prays for someone to interrupt them, but when no one comes, she’s forced to stare at Kara while she waggles her eyebrows suggestively while silently begging Lena to join their swimsuit club.  
  
“No.”  
  
Waggle waggle.  
  
“No, stop looking at me like that.”  
  
“Kara, you’re up next. Single photos and then sibling photos!” Jess calls out.  
  
“Oh, thank god,” Lena breathes out while taking another large sip of water as she watches Kara saunter off.  
  
The photographer has Kara stand holding a bat over one shoulder, chin up and proud. Her normal cocky smile is spread across her face as the photographer snapped a series of photos. Next pose was Kara holding the bat with both hands in front of her, sans smile, eyes intense. Lena completely ignores Kara’s abs, ignores the feeling they give her deep in her belly, and absolutely does not think about running her tongue across them.  
  
That would be highly unprofessional.  
  
Alex was up next, posing with Kara, resting an arm on her sister’s shoulder, both looking intensely at the camera. Next shot is Kara with the bat again and Alex with a catcher’s mask tucked under an arm.  
  
“Miss Luthor, let’s get you into a shot, too,” the photographer suggests. Lena reminds herself to fire him later.   
  
“Oh, no, that’s quite all right.”  
  
“Come on, Coach. Take a photo with us,” Kara beckons her over and that smile is like a bright light and she is a moth. She finds herself walking over to Kara, who hands her the bat, and she takes it.   
  
“I’m not wearing a swimsuit,” she says.   
  
“You look fine—great! You look great without one—I mean, you don’t need one,” Kara scoots over a couple inches and Alex rolls her eyes.   
  
“Actually, let’s put Miss Luthor in the middle. Hold the bat in front of you like a cane. Perfect!”  
  
The massive light bulb flashes in her eyes and Lena blinks away the specks of light that float around in her line of vision. They continue taking different combinations of duos and trios and finally one with the entire team and Lena sitting front and center.   
  
When they finished, everyone blessedly gets dressed again, giving Lena’s heart and sweat glands a break. She tells everyone they will be featured in the next issue of the L-Corp newsletter and to keep an eye out for it. Just as she’s about to leave, Jack bounds up to her with his tanned belly hanging over the top of his shorts and a piña colada in hand.  
  
“Hey Lena, I was thinking, first scrimmage with the local university is coming up, right? What if we treat it like a real game, invite people to come watch the girls in action? We can charge fifty cents for a ticket, open the concessions. What do you think?”  
  
Lena stared at him blankly.  
  
“What? Did I get pineapple on my face?”  
  
“No, that idea is actually brilliant. Quite frankly, I’m shocked.”  
  
Jack grins widely. “Thanks! Wait a minute…” Lena’s already walking away, off to find Jess to start making the preparations. She’s stopped at the front door by a fully-clothed Kara Danvers who’s wearing a bright smile on her face.  
  
“Hey, Coach, got a minute?”  
  
“Actually, I was just off to find Jess—”  
  
“It won’t take long, I promise. I was just thinking—”  
  
“People seem to be doing that a lot around here,” Lena mumbles. When Kara tilts her head in confusion, she shakes her head absentmindedly. “Sorry, continue.”  
  
“I know that the reason why we have to wear skirts is to appeal to the men and convince them to come to women’s sporting events, but I gotta tell you, I’m not fully comfortable sliding into a base and have there be a possibility that my skirts slides up and then everything is on display. If that’s the intent, we really should be charging more for tickets.  
  
“I understand your reservations, Miss Danvers, I do, but if our team changes the uniform that was decided across the entire league, I would need to speak with every coach and every manager to get the rest of them to agree. With the season starting next month, I’m not sure I can get everyone to come to a consensus in time.  
  
“You’re Lena Luthor, you can do anything,” Kara shrugs with yet another easy smile across her face. “If you could just make an effort, I’d be much obliged. I’m sure the other girls would be, too.”   
  
“I’ll see what I can do,” Lena replies, fully intending to ignore the request and keep the original uniforms, but once she finds Jess, she has her schedule phone meetings with each coach and manager later in the week.  
  
It turns out, Lena is a better negotiator than she gave herself credit for and she’s able to convince almost every team to switch to pants. The only one refusing to do so is Harrison Wells of Star City, who stated that the whole reason why they created the women’s baseball league in the first place was to give the men still on the homeland a sense of normalcy and entertainment to keep their minds off of the war.  
  
“Mr. Wells,” Lena says through gritted teeth, “while, yes, I agree that the point of the league was to bring a sense of normalcy to the cities, what we did not agree to was making them pin-up girls.”  
  
Harrison chuckles through the phone. “ _Didn’t you throw your entire team into swimsuits and take photos of them for your company’s newsletter?_ ”  
  
Lena sighs. “Yes, I did, but there’s a difference between posing in front of a camera and playing a sport where there will be physical activity and possible injuries. I would like to see you slide into home plate wearing nothing but your skivvies and see how you hold up.”  
  
The other line is silent for a moment. “ _You say I’m the only one who hasn’t agreed?_ ”  
  
“The only one,” Lena confirms, knowing she’s got him now.  
  
Harrison sighs. “ _Okay, fine, I’ll change my team into menswear, but if I lose sales due to this, I’ll have your head, Luthor._ ”  
  
Lena smiles through the receiver. “Let’s let the girls’ talent speak for itself, shall we? Games will be entertaining enough without the skirts, I assure you.”

* * *

Scrimmage day arrives and Lena’s on the field watching everyone warm-up, as usual, secretly proud to see every woman on the field wearing pants. Her opinion, not that it was important on this matter, was that women should be comfortable if they were to be on such a public stage. They weren’t there to be ogled, they were there to play baseball.   
  
Unfortunately, some of the attendees don’t feel the same way and a few men stand on top of the dugout and heckle the women warming up in front of them.  
  
“Open your shirt a little more, sweetheart!”  
  
“Yeah, where are the skirts? Show us a little leg!”  
  
Kara frowns and marches past Alex, who tries to restrain her, but fails. With a swift toss of her glove, she hits one of them right on the beer he’s holding and it spills all over them. She walks over and grabs her glove, smirking at them as their eyes bug out and they quietly sit back down. As she approaches Alex again, her sister raises a hand and high-fives her. Lena smiles to herself and realizes that Kara has a bit of a hero complex, which is also somewhat of a turn-on.   
  
The scrimmage goes well, the people seem to be enjoying themselves, stuffing their faces with hotdogs and popcorn, cheering when an Argonaut gets on base. Fan favorites appear to be the Danvers sisters, naturally, but everyone gets their fair share of cheers. Lena has never been a big fan of sports, but she has to admit, watching her team play is kind of entertaining. They have a lot of fun together and since it’s a scrimmage, they weren’t taking things too seriously. Nia even got to play for an inning since it wasn’t a league game and when she went to field a foul ball, she dipped over the edge of one of the walls and came back up with someone’s cookie in her mouth.  
  
The Argonauts win five runs to two and the team is on a well-deserved high afterwards. Lena treats them all to dinner at a local restaurant and everyone is buying drinks and having a good time. Jack sidles up to Lena and leans back in his chair, watching Kara trying to have a drinking contest with a random soldier sitting a table over.  
  
“You gonna jump on that already?”   
  
Lena looks scandalized and slaps him on the arm. “Absolutely not, and you’ll do well not to bring it up again.”  
  
“I’m just saying, she seems fun. You don’t have to go steady or anything, just have some fun.”  
  
“We’re not talking about this,” Lena says, staring ahead, watching as Kara finishes her entire drink in one gulp while the soldier has to stop three quarters of the way through. The blonde is laughing and she grabs the man’s cup and finishes it, adding insult to injury, clapping her hands together jovially. There are so many reasons why she and Kara won’t work and at least half of them are because a woman being with another woman is unheard of. They’d both be run out of the city, not to mention Lena would be run out of her company. The risks just aren’t worth the reward in Lena’s mind.   
  
“Are you coming to opening day?” Jack asks, pulling her out of her self-deprecating fog.  
  
“I should probably make an appearance,” Lena replies, “but that will likely be the only regular season game that I’ll attend.”  
  
“Aw, come on, Lena. Today was fun, wasn’t it?”  
  
“Make it to the World Series and then we’ll talk,” she challenges as she stands up and gets ready to close the tab. Unfortunately for her, Kara bounds up to her with a proud look on her face and a less-than-sober weave in her stance.  
  
“Hey, Coach! Today’s game was pretty great, wasn’t it? Did you see my hit?”  
  
Lena shakes her head in amusement. “Yes, Miss Danvers, I did. I was there.”  
  
Kara’s cheeks flush a light shade of pink. “Oh, right. Will you be at our first game?”  
  
Lena wonders if she and Jack collaborated on the questions they were going to ask her ahead of time. “Yes, I’ll be there.”  
  
“Great! I’ll hit a homerun for you.”  
  
“Of course you will,” Lena laughs lightly, not believing her. “Anyway, I should be going. I’m just going to close the tab, but the rest of you can stay and drink or do whatever it is you sports players do for fun. Try not to get arrested this time.”  
  
Lena hates how husky her voice sounds when she says that. She’s been told that she’s flirty, but it’s almost always unintentional. That’s just how her voice sounds and it’s gotten her into a lot of trouble with businessmen thinking she wants to provide something extra to seal their deal, or even when she’s out on dates, which are few and far between, but when her voice does that thing that she doesn’t mean to do, people take it the wrong way. In any case, Lena hopes Kara doesn’t get the wrong idea, even though she does find her biceps appealing, but that’s not the point. The point is, Lena can’t act on whatever deviancy that she’s feeling and that’s that.  
  
The first game comes around and although Lena said she wasn’t going to go to any games this season, she found herself sitting in the stands next to Jess, right behind the home team’s dugout. Jess offers her some popcorn, which she turns down as she watches the Argonauts march out onto the field and greet everyone. Surprisingly, the stands are pretty full, which makes Lena feel a little more at ease. They’re playing against the Metropolis Suns and Lena notices Lucy speaking to another player on the opposing team.  
  
“Who’s that Lucy is talking to?”  
  
“Oh, that’s Lois, her sister.”  
  
Lena watches them closely. “Does everyone on my team have a sibling who plays?” she asks, half-joking.  
  
“I believe that’s it, ma’am,” Jess answers, flipping through their roster. “Lois Lane is married to Clark Kent, the pro baseball player, who is apparently cousins with Kara Danvers.”  
  
“Not Alex?”   
  
“No, ma’am. Kara was adopted by the Danvers family when she was twelve. It was in her file.”  
  
“Yes, of course. I remember,” Lena lies. She didn’t read every detail of Kara’s file, because it felt intrusive, so she stopped when she got to her any factual information that didn’t have to do with baseball.  
  
Metropolis is up to bat first and Kara steps onto the pitcher’s mound. She throws a few practice pitches to Alex before the first batter comes up. Kara throws her pitch and the batter connects, hitting it to the left side of the field and Sam makes a diving catch for the first out of the game.  
  
Jack cheers from the dugout and they get the next two outs easily. Kelly is up to bat first and she hits a line drive to right field and gets a base hit. Lucy’s up next and her sister goads her from the pitcher’s mound.   
  
“You should have her bunt,” Kara says as she walks up next to Jack and makes a hand signal to the batter.  
  
“Bunt? Lucy’s one of our best hitters.” He overrides Kara’s hand signal with his own. Lucy stares at both of them with confusion in her eyes, but nods at Jack.  
  
“I really think she should bunt. We’re trying to get people in scoring position and Alex is up next.” She signals for a bunt again.  
  
“We’re also trying to get people on base. Two on base is better than one,” he signals for her to hit normally.  
  
“What if she hits into a double play?” Bunt.  
  
“What if she hits a homerun?” Normal at-bat.  
  
Lucy shrugs at both of them in frustration and the catcher for the Suns tells them to hurry it up as both Jack and Kara throw out their signals concurrently.  
  
“All right, fine! You want to coach the team, be my guest,” Jack yells and steps back into the dugout. Kara smiles proudly and signals at Lucy to bunt. Lucy nods and finally steps into the batter’s box. Sure enough, she bunts and gets thrown out, but allows Kelly to get to second base with one out. Alex raises her bat and lets the first pitch go by for a ball. The second pitch is a fastball that Alex swings at and it cracks against the bat. She hits a double and sends Kelly home to give the Argonauts the first score of the game. Kara cheers and looks back at Jack, who’s pouting on the bench with his hat pulled over his eyes.  
  
Kara’s up next and the first pitch is high, but she can’t help but swing at it. Strike one. She takes two balls before swinging at another high pitch. Lena can see she’s getting frustrated and Alex tries to cheer her on from second base. The next pitch gets thrown low, but it connects with Kara’s bat and soars high into the stands at the opposite side of the field for a two-run homerun. She jogs leisurely around the bases and just before walking into the dugout, she gives Lena a wink and says, “Told you I’d hit one.” Lena feels her ears start to get warm and shoves her hand into Jess’ tub of popcorn.  
  
The rest of the game goes by quickly and Lena won’t admit it, but she’s actually enjoying herself. The Argonauts win six-to-one and the team looks elated. They high five each other and then the other team. Jack and the opposing coach shake hands and Lucy and her sister hug before going their separate ways.  
  
Lena remains in the stands for a while, speaking to investors who sat near her while the team retreats to the locker rooms to shower and change out of their uniforms. When she tires of talking to the men, she makes the excuse that she needs to go congratulate her team and makes her way to the locker rooms with Jess following behind. Lena honestly should have known better. She should have known that going into the locker room, where half-dressed women would be, was a mistake, but there she is, face-to-face with Kara Danvers’ abs as she towel-dries her hair. She averts her eyes quickly, but it does no good, because Kara is walking up to her.  
  
“First win! Starting out the season strong,” she says, drops of water rolling down her arms.  
  
“Indeed,” Lena replies, trying to look behind Kara’s shoulder and no at her face. “What was that between you and Jack in the first inning?”  
  
“Oh, just a little coaching disagreement. It ended up working out in the end, didn’t it?”  
  
“It did, but I hired Jack for a reason. He’s very knowledgeable and experienced in the game and I know he doesn’t look it half the time while his face is submerged in a jug of beer, but he does know what he’s doing. If players begin to undermine his decisions, it makes it look like he’s not running the team well, which means I’m not managing it well and I cannot have that, is that understood?  
  
Kara gulps and nods. “Understood. I apologize, Miss Luthor. It won’t happen again.”  
  
“Good.” Lena’s glad that she can still hold it together enough to remain somewhat intimidating.   
  
Jack stumbles in with a hand covering his eyes. “Is everyone decent?” The other women scramble around, grabbing whatever clothing they can find and press it against their bodies, but Kara doesn’t move. Jack continues with his eyes covered, “Okay, well, I just wanted to tell you all that you did a great job, played well, but we have a long season ahead of us and a lot more games to play, but if we keep this up, we’re well on our way to the World Series. All right, practice on Tuesday, see you all there.” He waves his arm in front of his face, trying to find the door way and trips back up the stairs.   
  
Lena shakes her head amusedly and feels Kara standing slightly behind her. “I guess he’s not half bad when he wants to be,” Kara says. “You two have always been close?”  
  
“In a manner of speaking,” Lena replies vaguely.  
  
“That’s nice. Alex is my best friend.”  
  
“You don’t find it odd that your sister is your best friend?”  
  
Kara frowns. “No, why would that be odd? We’d do anything for each other. That’s what sisters do.”  
  
Lena hums and then excuses herself, but just as she’s about to leave, Sam jogs up to her.”  
  
“Miss Luthor, I need to ask you something.”  
  
Turning around, Lena looks at Sam, who seems like she’s about to cry. “What is it?”  
  
“I know our next game is an away game and we have to travel, but I have a daughter and no one to watch her while I’m gone. My husband’s overseas and no family nearby. Is it okay if I bring her with us on the bus?”  
  
“I don’t see why that would be a problem, I’ll run it by Jack.”  
  
“Oh, thank you, Miss Luthor. She’s an absolute angel. She won’t get in the way, I promise.”

* * *

Sam Arias’ definition of angel seems to be different from every other definition in the English language and Lena is so incredibly close to throwing a seven-year-old out of a bus window. Somehow, Jess convinced her to go to one more game, because it would look good if she supported the team outside of National City, too, so she was left to deal with a screaming child running up and down the aisle and Kara Danvers, who was sitting in the next row over and kept asking her random questions.  
  
“What’s your favorite candy bar?”  
  
Lena rolls her eyes. “I don’t know, Hershey’s?”  
  
“Really? That’s so boring.”  
  
“What, would you rather I said a Luthor bar?”  
  
Kara shrugs. “I don’t know, maybe. Though, I think it’s great that your company has been developing and sending bars overseas to the troops. Even soldiers need their chocolate.”  
  
“That was the idea,” Lena says, staring into her book and not reading a single word. She can feel Kara’s eyes on her and she tries not to let it affect her.  
  
“My dad was always a fan of your family and its legacy.”  
  
“Is that why he worked for my father?” Lena asks.  
  
“Oh, no, not Jeremiah. My-my birth father. He’d always talk about how innovative Lionel Luthor was and how he was going to catapult us straight into the twenty-second century.  
  
Lena wishes she had as much admiration for her father that Kara’s father did, but she knew everything Lionel did behind the scenes, how he’d cheated on Lillian multiple times while out on business trips and how his façade of being technologically advanced being good for humanity was really just good for his bank account.  
  
“What happened to your birth parents, if you don’t mind my asking?”  
  
“They died,” Kara answers softly. “House fire. My mom threw me out a second-story window onto some bushes and I survived. Then the next-door neighbors, the Danvers family, adopted me.”  
  
“I’m sorry, Kara,” Lena says, setting her book down in the seat next to her.  
  
“It’s okay,” she smiles. “The Danvers’ are the best thing that could have happened to me. They treated me like one of their own immediately. The accident with Jeremiah was hard, so that’s why Alex and I are trying to do right by Eliza. She deserves it.”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“So, I guess what I’m saying is, thank you for everything you’ve done for us – for Eliza. Alex and I have had to give a lot up when we started working on the farm after Jeremiah died, so to be able to be out here on the road, on the way to a baseball game, is something I never thought I’d ever be able to do.”  
  
Lena feels the guilt creeping up deep in her gut once again. If Kara knew what her father had done when the factory blew, she would probably be singing another tune. Thankfully, Alex walks up to interrupt them.  
  
“Hey, Kara, you should let Miss Luthor rest. Come to the back with the rest of us. We’re scarring Nia with all of our sex stories.”  
  
“That sounds awful,” Kara says, wrinkling her nose.  
  
“Just because you’re a prude doesn’t mean the rest of us are. C’mon,” Alex pulls Kara up by the elbow and drags her back. Kara looks back at Lena with a sheepish grin on her face and waves. Lena attempts to sleep the rest of the way, but it doesn’t come easily, especially with Jack snoring in the seat behind her.

* * *

The game is relatively uneventful. The Argonauts win fairly easily against the Ivy Town Waveriders, but she notices a couple of the players, Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe, appear to be good friends. Really good friends. Lena isn’t sure if they’re trying to be obvious about it by being extra touchy with each other, but she can’t imagine they’d be that comfortable out in public if they were anything more than friends.  
  
After the game, everyone showers and gets changed. A few go back to their hotel, but a group hang out in front of the ballpark. Kara smiles and Lena as she walks out and runs up to her.  
  
“Hey, Coach. A few of us are going to go out for drinks. Want to come? Sara says there’s this bar nearby just for us ladies, so no drunk men trying to grope you on the dancefloor. What do you say?”  
  
“I appreciate the offer, but no thank you. Might I remind you, we’re leaving early in the morning tomorrow to head back to National City.”  
  
“I remember, but come on! Come with us. This way, you can keep an eye on us and make sure we aren’t too rowdy.”  
  
Lena steels her jaw, preparing herself to turn Kara down one more time, but the way Kara’s looking at her with her dumb, hopeful eyes and her dumb adorable smile makes her resolve fall like melting snow and she’s sunk. “Fine. One drink.”  
  
Kara whoops and runs back to the rest of the group, telling them Lena’s joining them. Sara looks over Kara’s shoulder at her and raises an eyebrow in her direction. She doesn’t like the way she’s being observed, but it’s only one drink. It won’t kill her.  
  
The girls walk the three blocks to the unassuming bar and walk inside, but instead of being on the main floor, they descend a flight of stairs into the basement. Lena doesn’t really like where this is going, but Kara’s looking back at her with a grin and she keeps walking.  
  
When they enter the room, the first thing Lena notices is that most of the women are wearing men’s clothing. It wasn’t totally unusual, as some women worked in the factories now with the men being at war, but the second thing she notices is that most of the women are paired off.  
  
“Here we are,” Sara announces. “Welcome to Legends.” She and Ava walk right up to the bar and orders a round of drinks for everyone while the rest of them find a table. Leslie, Kelly, Maggie, and Alex sit at one table, and Kara and Lena sit at another, saving a couple seats for Sara and Ava.   
  
“What kind of bar is this, exactly?” Lena asks Sara when they return.  
  
“The fun kind,” she smirks, pushing a shot glass in front of her and holding up her own. “Cheers.”  
  
Lena swallows thickly and holds up her glass, clinking it against everyone else’s before drinking it down and letting the liquid burn her throat as it travels down. She knows she said she was only going to stay for one drink, and that was one drink, but she’s curious about this bar.   
  
After a while, Alex is pulled to her feet by both Kelly and Maggie and they drag her to the dancefloor. Kara looks at her questioningly.  
  
“Want to dance?”  
  
“No, thank you. I don’t dance.”  
  
Kara scoffs. “What? Everyone dances.”  
  
“Not me.”  
  
Kara admits defeat and offers a hand to Leslie, who gives a disgusted look before taking it willingly, and they join the rest. Lena sits back in her chair, feeling the familiar burn of jealousy in her chest as she watches Kara and Leslie dance. Sara leans in close.  
  
“Why didn’t you dance with her? You clearly like her.”  
  
“I don’t,” Lena agues weakly, not taking her eyes off of Kara.  
  
Sara chuckles. “Sure, honey. Whatever you say. Listen, if fear is holding you back, it’s not going to stay this way forever.”  
  
“And how do you know that?” Lena asks, turning to Sara with a challenging stare.  
  
“Call it a hunch,” she shrugs. “Ava and I have been together for a couple years now. All of our friends know and they’re fine with it. Times are changing.”  
  
“Maybe for you,” Lena says, “but you’re not the CEO of a well-known company whose mother would string her up and disown her if she ever found out.”  
  
“Is being the CEO of a company worth more than your happiness?” Ava asks her. Before Lena can answer, shouts come from the bar’s entrance and police whistles ring out. Everyone starts to panic and Lena tries to find the nearest exit, which is most likely the same way they came in. Kara runs up to her and grabs her hand.  
  
“Follow me,” she says, and drags her to the opposite end of the room. They push through a door that leads to a long, dark, hallway and go up a set of stairs before exiting through an alleyway. They run toward the sidewalk, but Kara stops them and presses Lena up against the wall. A couple policemen run by and Lena can’t pay attention to anything other than Kara’s body against hers, shielding her, and the puffs of breath that are coming from Kara’s nose are brushing against her cheek. Kara turns her head and looks down at Lena, her throat bobbing as she swallows. Their faces are so close together that Lena would just need to move forward an inch and they’d be kissing. Kara peeks out again and takes Lena’s hand. “Come on.”  
  
They keep to the side streets on their way back to the hotel and Kara takes them to the elevator. Lena’s heartbeat still hasn’t calmed down and she feels jittery and paranoid, looking over her shoulder to see if they’ve been followed. They make it up to their floor and Alex is standing in front of them when the elevator doors slide open.  
  
“Where the hell were you?”  
  
“I had to get Miss Luthor out. You know what would happen if she’d been seen.”  
  
“What about me? Your sister?”   
  
“You had Kelly, and Maggie! You were fine.”  
  
Alex glares daggers at Lena and then turns around, slamming the door to her hotel room behind her. Kara sighs and hangs her head. “I’m sorry about all of this. I honestly had no idea that was the kind of bar they were taking us to, but when we got there, it was like we could all just be ourselves for one night.”  
  
It’s not your fault. I was the one who decided to stay,” Lena says. “Anyway, you should get some sleep if possible. If Alex has murderous intentions, my room is just down the hall. Please keep it down.” She moves past Kara and walks forward.  
  
“Hey, Coach?”  
  
Lena pauses and turns her head and waits for Kara to speak.  
  
“Are you… like me?”  
  
“I can’t afford to be, Miss Danvers. Good night.” She keeps walking and doesn’t stop until she gets to her door, unlocking it and shutting it quietly behind her. She slides down until she’s sitting on the floor and lets a sob break out of her chest as she starts to cry for a reason she can’t quite pin down. It could be because she almost got arrested, or the admission that she is hiding something, or that she’s mourning the fact that Sara may be right that times are changing, but they would never change for someone like her, a Luthor.   
  
She takes a long bath before climbing into bed, trying to get the memory of Kara pressed up against her, her smell infiltrating Lena’s senses, the way she licked her lip when she looked at her before moving away, out of her mind and failing miserably.  
  
What she told Kara was true, she couldn’t afford to hold affections for women, unless she wanted to lose her entire company. So, this will be the last game she attends and the last time she sees Kara in a non-professional setting. It’s self-preservation and nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m mixing up Kara’s personality with both Dottie and Kit, because I wanted her to be a good leader and headstrong, but also act like the younger sister. Hope you all don’t mind.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

The bus ride back to National City is blissfully quiet. Lena isn’t sure what they did to placate Sam’s daughter Ruby, but she’ll be sure to thank whoever it was. Unfortunately, Jack didn’t get the memo and plops himself down on the seat next to Lena and asks how her time in Ivy Town was.   
  
“It was fine, like any other small town,” Lena replies.   
  
“No excitement whatsoever?”  
  
“No. Should there have been?”   
  
Jack shrugs. “Well, you were away from home, away from the prying eyes of your mother and all of L-Corp’s board members, could have had some quality time with a certain Danvers sister.” He wags his eyebrows in that same annoying way that he always does.  
  
“It’s not happening, Jack. And this will be the last game I attend. Jess will appear in my stead and you and Eve are perfectly capable of running things yourselves.”  
  
“What? Why? I thought you said you were having a good time at the games.”  
  
Lena mindlessly flips through some papers on her lap. “I have an entire company to run. This team isn’t the only thing I manage.” She can feel Jack frowning next to her while she does her best to ignore it.  
  
“Is this about Kara? Did something happen?”  
  
Lena sighs. “No, Jack, nothing happened. I just realized that I wasn’t balancing my time and energy efficiently and we have a lot of work to do with the war effort.” It’s a weak argument, because Lena has other people running those parts of the company and she only needs to catch up with them once a month to see what updates or issues they may have. She really does have time to go to games and manage the team more closely, if she wants to.  
  
When they get back to National City, there’s a car waiting for her to drive her and Jess straight to the L-Corp building. She doesn’t say a thing to Kara or the rest of the team before leaving and Jess notices, but doesn’t say a word. When they arrive, she plants herself behind her desk and doesn’t move for the next three hours. Her only interruption is Jess knocking on her door.  
  
“Sorry to disturb you, Miss Luthor, but your mother is on the phone.”  
  
“Wonderful. Just what I need. Thank you, Jess.” She picks up the phone and is immediately greeted with a long string of curse words. “Hello to you, too, Mother.”  
  
“ _You’ve changed your personal phone number without telling me, again._ ”  
  
“Yes, I’m aware.”   
  
“ _Since my own daughter doesn’t keep me up to date on anything going on, imagine my surprise when I see she’s rubbing elbows with the Danvers sisters. Do you know how dangerous this could be for us?_ ”  
  
Lena scoffs. “Us? This has nothing to do with me. You and Dad are the ones who ran the company into the ground, ignoring warnings from the factory workers and inspectors. If you’ll recall, I’m the one who brought it back and saved the family from ruin. You should be thanking me.”  
  
“ _Thanking you? For bringing in Jeremiah Danvers’ daughters closer to us? Giving them an opportunity to find things wrong with how we run things?_ ”  
  
Lena sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “You have nothing to worry about, Mother. I took care of it. I’ve sent farmhands to their family farm in Midvale, I’m taking care of their contract, doing whatever they want. Nothing is going to happen.”  
  
“ _Well, see that it doesn’t_ ,” her mother bites back venomously and hangs up abruptly. Lena stares at the receiver before hanging it up. If Lillian doesn’t want her anywhere near Kara or Alex, then her decision to stay away appears to be a good one. It’s not that she’s doing it because her mother told her so, she’s doing it because it’s the right decision for all of them, plus she doesn’t want to give her mother another excuse to reprimand her.  
  
The game against Central City Cheetahs comes and goes. Jack comes by later that night to give her a play-by-play. Stand-out players for the Cheetahs were Iris West Allen and Zari Tarazi, both hitting runs in and playing well out in the field. She doesn’t want to ask, but she does want to know how Kara did.  
  
“Our girls did well, played a solid game. Kara pitched well and Maggie hit a homerun. Apparently, Ruby has made it her goal in life to annoy us to death by mockingly telling us that we’re going to lose at every at-bat,” Jack chuckles. “Oh, and Siobhan cried. She cried! Okay, yes, I may have yelled at her for missing a grounder and letting a runner score, but she cried. There’s no crying in baseball! What else? Oh, your girl looked a little off. Not sure if she was sick, but no RBI’s or homeruns or anything.”  
  
“She isn’t my girl,” Lena sneers, drinking her wine. “Where’s the next game?”  
  
“Star City, against the Arrowheads. I hear their pitcher throws a mean curveball. Gonna have to tell Kara to lay off the high ones, for sure.”  
  
Every time Jack mentions Kara’s name, Lena’s stomach ties in knots. She doesn’t want Kara to affect her way, she doesn’t want anyone to affect her this way. It’s embarrassing, to say the least, and Lena Luthor doesn’t do embarrassment.   
  
“She asked where you were, you know,” Jack tells her, sipping his scotch.  
  
“And what did you tell her?”  
  
“I said you had some business to take care of, which isn’t a complete lie. I’m sure you had a meeting or two, or maybe a business call.”  
  
Lena hums in agreement, but doesn’t tell Jack that what she was actually doing was staring at the same contract for three hours while not reading a single word on said contract.  
  
“You should at least listen to the games on the radio,” Jack suggests.  
  
“Aw, what, you don’t enjoy coming to my apartment to update me?” Lena pouts, drinking the rest of her scotch and frowning at her empty glass.  
  
“Look, Lena, you know I adore you, but there’s something going on that I clearly don’t understand and you obviously don’t want to talk about. Lena tries really hard to concentrate on what Jack is saying, but her head is foggy from the alcohol and listening takes so much effort. Plus, Jack is saying a lot of words. Her ears catch something about Kara and she starts paying attention.  
  
“What? What did you say?”  
  
“I said that whatever happened between you and Kara after the Ivy Town game affected you in some way, because before you were just cold and stand-offish, but now you’re downright avoiding her.”  
  
“I thought you said you knew that I didn’t want to talk about it,” Lena said, leaning her head back on the couch and closing her eyes.  
  
“Just because you don’t want to, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If you like her, maybe it’s worth pursuing. She seems to like you, too.”  
  
Anger bubbles in Lena’s stomach. Jack has no idea what he’s asking of her, what he’s telling her to give up. If she were to pursue any sort of relationship with Kara, even if she felt the same way, Lena would be ruined. What would she do then? Live the rest of her life, alone, and in squalor? Or perhaps she’d follow in her brother’s footsteps and just run away.  
  
“Lena?” Jack places a hand on her knee.   
  
“I can’t,” she answers with a whisper, shaking her head.   
  
“Why not? Don’t you deserve to be happy, too?”  
  
“You don’t get it. None of you understand,” Lena lashes out, standing up and pacing in front of the couch. “If people find out I’m… like this, if they knew, I would get thrown out of my own company. My mother would take my inheritance, take over L-Corp and run it right back into the ground – or worse, she’ll put my brother in charge and he’ll have the same result, but faster. And what if she doesn’t feel the same way? What then? It’s the same result, I’m alone. At least this way, I’m alone, but I still have my company.”  
  
Jack looks at her with a deep sadness in his eyes and swirls the last dregs of his scotch at the bottom of his glass. “You pulled me out of the deepest hole when I was at my lowest. After my injury, after I’d lost Francine, lost myself, you didn’t leave. You bailed me out of jail more times than I can count, cleaned me up – mostly, you’ve given me a job. You did that, not L-Corp. This company, your name, doesn’t define who you are. So what if you no longer have it? You’ll find something else. And, believe me, Kara does feel the same way, or at least she’s intrigued by you. When you’re not looking, she stares at you.”  
  
Lena knows Jack could very well be lying, but he’s planting a seed in her cold, shriveled heart that has the potential to bloom into something that resembles hope. What if Kara feels the same way? What if she wasn’t imagining the whole thing when it looked like she wanted to kiss her in the alley in Ivy Town? Lena absolutely loathes Jack for putting these ideas in her head. She was doing perfectly fine ignoring things and pretending Kara was just a friendly farm girl, but now she’s running all kinds of different scenarios in her head – ones where Kara did reciprocate, ones where she didn’t, ones where she did, but they had to wait until after the season, ones where she didn’t and Lena moved to Lex’s island.  
  
She imagines Kara leaning in to kiss her behind the Ivy Town bar and Lena returning it, feeling their lips press against each other. Would they be soft, or would they be rough like she imagines Kara’s hands would be after years of working on their farm? Would Kara lift her up and carry her to their bed before making love to her all night, leaving her sore the next morning?  
  
These were not the types of thoughts she should be having with Jack sitting five inches away from her.  
  
“You need to leave,” she says.   
  
“Oh. Okay, uh, sorry if I offended you.”  
  
“You didn’t. I’m just—I’m tired. Good luck at your next game.”  
  
Jack allows himself to be ushered out and gives Lena a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before leaving. Lena closes the door and lets out a long breath before coming to terms with the fact that she is very wet and should really do something about it.  
  
As much as it pains her to think about, the nights where she takes care of herself are usually the ones where she gets the most restful sleeps, so she hikes up her nightgown and slides her hand beneath the thin fabric of her panties before she’s rubbing herself with the quiet moans and Kara’s name rolling off her lips until she falls asleep.

* * *

Before the game against Star City, Lena has Jess install a new radio in her office. She finds the correct station and listens to the announcers talk about both teams.  
  
“ _National City has a very strong team this season. You’ve got the Danvers sisters along with the rocket Maggie Sawyer, power hitter Leslie Willis, and what about that youngster Nia Nal? We haven’t seen her in action yet, but come the middle of the season when she turns twenty-one, I have a feeling we’re in for a treat.”_  
 _“You said it, Bob. Now, What about the Arrowheads? They’ve got Felicity Smoak and Laurel Lance, two very young and talented athletes. How do you think they’ll fare against the undefeated Argonauts?_ ”  
  
“ _Honestly, Pete, I think they’ve got a good chance. I think with their fielding they’ll be able to keep National City off the bases for a good while and also keep them on their toes with their strong hitting. We’ve got a good game ahead of us_.”  
  
Lena tunes out the rest until the game actually starts and waits for the players to be introduced. Her heart skips a beat when she hears Kara’s name and field position being called, along with all of her stats. She’s had a strong start to her season, even if the last game was a little off. The game starts with National City at-bat as the away team and Kelly starts them off. She hits a groundout with Lucy up next. The younger Lane sister hits a single out to left field and gets on base.   
  
Alex hits another single to put two people on base and Kara comes up to the plate. First pitch is high and Kara swings for strike one.  
  
“Come on, Kara,” Lena mutters at the radio.  
  
Second pitch is the same with a miss for strike two. The third pitch is hit, but Kara hits it right to the shortstop for a double play.  
  
“ _Uh-oh, folks. Looks like no one is happy with that at-bat. Alex Danvers is trying to calm her sister down, but the younger Danvers slams her bat into the dugout before coach Jack Spheer throws her over his shoulder and carries her back into the locker rooms. The rest of the team heads back onto the field._ ”  
  
The game is close, but the Argonauts pull out a win in the end. Lena can imagine the yelling Jack is doing in the locker room, telling the players that they nearly blew their perfect win streak. Jack may be a disgraced ball player, but he’s still competitive as hell. When the team comes back, Lena holds a meeting with Jack and Eve to assess the team’s situation and see if they need to enact some sort of punishment for Kara’s behavior.  
  
“She was just heated, had a frustrating at-bat,” Jack says. “It isn’t a regular occurrence. I tossed her into the shower and told her to cool off for the rest of the game. She apologized afterwards.”  
  
“But if we don’t curb this behavior now, what if it keeps happening?” asks Eve, tapping a pen on her notepad. “The Danvers sisters, especially Kara, act like they’re god’s gift and it’s only a matter of time until she keeps pushing to see how far she can get.”  
  
Lena shakes her head. “I don’t see her that way. All of this is new to them, they haven’t left Midvale since graduating high school. Being away from home with all of these new people and experiences is bound to make them act out a little.”  
  
“Of course, you’d say that,” Eve grumbles.  
  
“What is that supposed to mean?” Lena stands up from her chair and rests her hands on the table, leaning forward.  
  
“Okay, okay. Maybe we should give them an opportunity to blow off some steam. We’ve been working them pretty hard at practices and our next game isn’t until Tuesday. What if we throw them a barbeque, or something?”  
  
“Who’s going to host? You? In your bachelor’s pad?” Lena crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow.  
  
“What about the park by the lake? We can rent it out for the day, give the girls some time to run around or swim,” Eve suggests and Lena puts aside her annoyance with Eve for a second and considers that a good idea.  
  
“I’ll have Jess make the arrangements. We’ll set it for Saturday, so we’ll have enough time to buy supplies and prepare everything. Sound good?” Both Jack and Eve nod their agreement before adjourning their meeting. Lena gets right to work on getting everything organized and having Jess rent the entire park. She decides to pay a visit to the house since she hasn’t seen her team in a while, though she knows it’s risky since Kara will be there.   
  
Her driver pulls up to the front door and she exits the car, walking right inside. The house is unusually quiet, so she walks around and checks each room, but no one is anywhere. When she steps onto the back patio through the opened door, she sees Kara sitting on one of the chairs, sipping from a beer. This is a terrible idea. Kara hasn’t noticed her yet, so she could just slip back out and act like she was never there, but there’s something tugging her forward. It’s a curiosity, why Kara’s the only one home and none of the other girls are.   
  
She clears her throat and Kara jumps, nearly dropping her beer. Her head whips around and when she sees Lena, she stands suddenly and looks down at her pajamas and slippers with a groan. “Hey, Coach. Sorry I’m not decent, didn’t expect anyone to be here.”  
  
“That’s quite all right, I didn’t announce myself or give any warning. Where is everyone?”  
  
Kara slumps back into the chair and takes a swig of her beer. “They went out shopping for swimsuits. Jack came by and told us about the barbeque.”  
  
“You didn’t want to go?” Lena’s starting to feel a little awkward and out of place just standing there in her skirt and blouse. Kara pulls the other deck chair over and offers her a seat, which she graciously accepts.  
  
“Nah, shopping’s not really my thing. Alex knows what I like, she’ll get me something. Do you want a drink? There’s more beer.”  
  
“Oh no, that’s okay—”  
  
“Come on, Coach, drink with me.” Ignoring her protests, Kara stands up and walks back into the kitchen, grabbing a cold beer out of the refrigerator and peeling off the cap with a bottle opener that was still sitting on the counter. She comes back out and hands it to Lena. “I know this isn’t like your fancy scotch, but it’s still refreshing. It’s pretty warm today.”  
  
“It is,” Lena answers lamely. She sips from the bottle and grimaces at the taste. She’s never been a big beer drinker and this one isn’t about to change her mind. “So,” she lets her voice drawl. “I listened to the Star City game on the radio.”  
  
“Oh, lord,” Kara says, her head dropping between her shoulders. “That was not my finest moment. I’m sorry for the way I acted, I didn’t represent the team well that day.”  
  
“No, you didn’t,” Lena responds, and Kara’s pout becomes more severe. “But we all have bad days, Miss Danvers. How we pull ourselves out of it is what matters. You just do better the next game. Gotham, correct?”  
  
Kara nods. “Home game. Are-are you going to go?” Lena bites down on her lip to resist the urge to say no immediately, but the way Kara’s looking at her with that hopeful glint in her eye makes her forget why she was going to decline in the first place.  
  
“Yes, I think I’ll be able to make it.” Kara’s grin is so wide that Lena’s afraid her mouth might split her who face in half, but her excitement is endearing.   
  
“I’d like to get my mom out to a game sometime. Maybe near the end of the season.”  
  
“Or when you win the pennant,” Lena smiles and Kara ducks her head again, beginning to peel off the label of her beer bottle.  
  
“You think we’ll make it?”  
  
“I think this team has a good chance, as long as its players keep a cool head and work together to get there. It’s still early in the season, though.”  
  
Kara continues staring down at her bottle, watching the condensation fall. “I know we haven’t talked about it since it happened, but the thing that happened in Ivy Town—”  
  
“Kara, it’s fine. Nothing happened.”  
  
“Did you want something to happen?”  
  
Oh. That isn’t what Lena thought she was talking about. She thought Kara was referring to the police raiding the bar and them almost getting caught, not the kiss that they almost shared. She isn’t prepared for this, has no idea what her answer is, let alone what it should be.  
  
“It doesn’t matter what I want, Kara. Nothing _can_ happen.” Kara reaches over and takes one of Lena’s hands.  
  
“What are you afraid of? No one has to know, we can keep it hidden.”  
  
Lena scoffs and slides her hand out of Kara’s grip. “Is that what you think? You don’t think anyone will find out? No one will question why you and I are spending a lot more time together or giving each other looks at the games? You don’t think anyone will speculate as to why the manager of the team is giving so much attention to its star player?”  
  
“You think I’m the star player?” Kara asks, puffing out her chest.   
  
Lena growls in frustration and runs a hand through her loose hair. “Even if this did happen and I agreed to it, your teammates would not be all that excited about the situation, I’m sure. I can think of at least one who would probably think I was showing favoritism, not to mention the fact that I would most likely lose my job and inheritance if my mother found out.”  
  
“Then they won’t find out! I’m not saying we should scream it out to the stands, but I think you’re incredible and you make me feel a way I’ve never felt about anyone before, and I think you feel something, too. Sara said things are changing and she and Ava are working, and I’m pretty sure my sister is getting into something with Kelly and Maggie, which is strange, and I don’t want to think about it, but that’s beside the point. Why can’t we?”   
  
“For so many reasons,” Lena sighs. “Maybe if the situation was different, or if it was another time and we weren’t in the middle of a war, we could have worked, but it isn’t. I’m sorry, Kara.” She stands and walks back into the house, setting the half-full bottle on the counter next to the bottle opener before making her way to the front of the house where her driver is still waiting. She climbs into the back seat and tells her driver to go, resisting the urge to look behind and see Kara’s figure standing at the door, watching her leave.

* * *

Lena keeps her promise and goes to the next home game against Gotham City. Kara walks out of the dugout and gives her a tiny smile before going out onto the field for warm-ups. Alex, on the other hand, gives her a sharp glare before walking out to join her team.   
  
“It’s probably none of my business, ma’am, but is there something going on between you and Miss Danvers?”  
  
“No, why would you think there is?” Lena asks nonchalantly, staring out into the field.  
  
“Well, just going by the look she just gave you.”  
  
“There’s nothing going on, Jess. We have a strictly professional relationship and that’s it.”  
  
Jess nods beside her and pauses for a beat. “If you need me to beat her up, I will. I don’t like that glare she gave you.”  
  
Lena nearly bursts into laughter when she realizes Jess is talking about Alex and not Kara. She orders them a bag of popcorn to share and they wait for the game to begin. The announcers call out each player by name, as per usual, and Lena does her best to keep her face neutral when he says Kara’s name. Kara, however, makes it a point to look right at her while she waves her hat around before falling back in line.   
  
The game is entertaining, both teams have scored two runs and it’s in the eighth inning. Kara comes up to bat and she and the pitcher, Kate, have been at odds all game. The first pitch is way inside and Kara has to jerk her body back to avoid getting hit.   
  
“I don’t like that Kate Kane,” Lena mutters. ”She keeps throwing at players.”  
  
“She keeps throwing at Kara, you mean,” Jess replies with a frown.  
  
The second pitch is high and inside, forcing Kara out of the batter’s box yet again.   
  
“Come on, umpire, do something!” Lena shouts, spilling her popcorn into the stands. Jack takes a step out of the dugout, looking ready to pounce. The third pitch flies in and actually hits Kara this time, smacking into her thigh and she winces in pain. The entire dugout clears and they rush at the opposing team. Jack heads for the umpire and starts screaming at him and it’s absolute chaos. Lena can’t really see or hear what’s going on, but she sees the umpire point at Jack and throw a finger to the sky, indicating that he’s being thrown out of the game.  
  
Security runs onto the field, pulling players off of one another, dragging Kara off of Kate.   
  
“You’re out, too,” the umpire tells her.  
  
“What! You’re kicking me out when you let her throw pitches at my head?” Kara screeches. “Maybe you need to let someone younger with better eyesight have your job." Jack takes her by the elbow and escorts her back to the locker rooms, but before he does, he yells, “Did you know that you look like a little penis with a hat?”  
  
“Out!” the umpire shouts and starts walking toward them, but the two retreat for the remainder of the game. The Argonauts squeeze by with a three-to-two win and Lena drops by the locker room after speaking with the local newspaper about the team and their upcoming game against Freeland.  
  
“What do you think of having Black and Asian women in the league?” the reporter asks.   
  
“I think it’s perfectly within their right to play,” Lena answers. “Their men are fighting for the United States in the war, so I don’t see why American women can’t play American sports. Times are changing and everyone else needs to change along with it. That being said, I hope the Freeland Storm are ready for us.”   
  
Lena walks into the locker room later and most of the women have already showered and left, but Kara’s sitting on the bench still without her shirt on, sulking. Alex notices her and frowns, but she whispers something to Kara before walking toward her.  
  
“I’m watching you, Luthor,” she grumbles before brushing against her and leaving. Lena steps forward, her heels clicking against the cement floor. Kara doesn’t turn around to greet her or even acknowledge her presence.  
  
“You played pretty well out there today,” Lena says, trying to break the silence. Kara huffs a sharp laugh, but doesn’t turn around.  
  
“Sure, if you call being afraid to step foot in the batter’s box playing well.”  
  
Lena sits down on the bench next to Kara and gasps when she finally sees her face. There’s a dark purple bruise surrounding one eye. She reaches over to touch Kara’s chin to turn her face more to get a better look.  
  
“Jesus,” she says under her breath. “Kate did this?”  
  
“God no,” Kara laughs. “Sophie got a cheap shot off in the scuffle.”  
  
“Does it hurt?” Lena gently presses the skin on Kara’s cheek and she winces.  
  
“A little.”  
  
“You should put some ice on it,” Lena whispers, their faces inching closer toward one another.  
  
“Or you could kiss it better,” Kara replies with a slight smirk. For a split-second, Lena actually considers it, but the door to the locker room swings wide open and Jack barrels through, causing Lena to jolt away from Kara.  
  
“Hey, there you are! Oh, yikes Danvers, you got a little shiner there. The team’s waiting for you outside. We’re going out for drinks. You in, boss?”  
  
“Sure, why not? For team morale, right?”  
  
“That’s the spirit!” Jack pumps a fist into the air. The three of them leave after Kara finishes getting dressed and they walk toward the rest of the group. Kara heads straight for Alex and puts and arm around her shoulder as they start walking toward the bar down the street.  
  
“Did I interrupt something earlier?” Jack asks, leaning in close to Lena.   
  
“No, of course not. I was just telling Kara she played well today – when she wasn’t instigating a fight, that is. It’s the second game in a row that she’s gotten thrown out of.”  
  
“Oh, come on. Kane had it coming, she was throwing wild pitches all day long. The umpire wasn’t doing a darn thing about it.”  
  
“Why’s there such a big rivalry between the two of them? They know each other outside of the league?”  
  
Jack shrugs. “Just rumors, gossip. Nothing concrete and I’m not about to ask Kara to spill her darkest secrets to her coach.” Lena lets the topic drop, but she stares at the back of Kara’s head as she walks in front of them, laughing at something Nia says.  
  
When they get to the bar, there’s a feeling of uneasiness that fills Lena. It reminds her of Ivy Town, even though she knows this bar isn’t like that, but she hasn’t gone back to a bar since that night. After Alex and Leslie come back with their drinks, a rowdy group enters and Lena notices the familiar black and red shirts to be the Gotham team.   
  
“Great, look who’s here,” Maggie frowns.   
  
The group of women walk up to their table and Kate smirks. “Hey Danvers, you look like shit.”  
  
“Happens when you get cheap shot by someone. She fight all your battles for you?”  
  
“I don’t need her to, I finish every fight I start,” Kate answers.  
  
Kara barks out a laugh. “Oh, really? That’s news to me.”  
  
Kate has a bored look on her face. “We can discuss this further if you’d like, but I told my girls I’d buy them drinks. We’ll see you around.”  
  
Kara nurses her drink and glowers at her table while everyone around her has their own conversations. Lena turns her chair a little to face Kara. “Are you okay?”  
  
Kara looks up at her briefly before taking a sip out of her cup. “I’m fine. Kate just—she brings out a lot of anger, bad memories. She knows how to push my buttons.”  
  
“Were you two…” Lena’s not sure how to end that sentence. Friends? Lovers?   
  
“She’s my ex,” Kara says quietly. “We were sweethearts for a while, but then I guess she got tired of the farmgirl from Midvale. She moved to the city, didn’t even tell me.”  
She finishes her drink in one gulp and stands up. “I need another. You want one?”  
  
Lena looks at her full glass of wine and shakes her head. “No, thank you.”  
  
Kara shrugs and heads to the bar to order something else. Lena watches her closely and sees Kate moving in the same direction, most likely up to no good. She slides up next to Kara and Lena can tell by Kara’s body language that she is not happy. Kara’s shoulders are tense and she’s trying to lean away from Kate, who keeps invading her space. Finally getting tired of it, Kara moves away from the bar without her drink and storms off down the hallway toward the back of the bar. Kate follows her and Lena frowns, wondering if she should intervene, but deciding against it. Whatever’s going on is between the two of them and it’s none of her business.  
  
Minutes pass and Kara still hasn’t returned, but no one else seems to notice. Most of the girls are challenging each other to drinking contests and Jack joins them.   
  
“Hey, where’d Kara go?” Alex finally asks.  
  
Lena points toward the back door of the bar. “She and Kate went back there.”  
  
“Oh, shit, not again,” Alex mutters and stands up, making her way to the door. Lena watches Maggie and Kelly follow with Leslie not far behind.  
  
“Should we make sure they don’t kill anyone?” Jack asks.  
  
“I really don’t feel like bailing anymore people out, so we’d probably better.” They stand up and follow the rest of the team out the back door, where Kara and Kate appear to be having a screaming match.  
  
“You’re just jealous, because I’ve found someone else and you’re still alone!”  
  
“It’s only a matter of time before you run away from her, too. How long has it been? Let’s calculate how much time the two of you have left before you get bored.”   
  
“It’s been four years, Kara. Get over it.”  
  
Kara scoffs and shakes her head. “You didn’t even call me when my dad died. Did you even care about me? About my family?”  
  
“Of course I did, but I-I just felt suffocated by it all. I wasn’t going to be happy living on a farm the rest of my life, you knew that. You wanted to get married, have a family. That’s not me,” Kate says in a softer voice.   
  
“You could have told me instead of just leaving.”  
  
Kate laughs humorlessly. “No, I couldn’t have, because you would have tried to stop me and I probably would have let you. You’re not an easy person to leave, Kara.”  
  
Both teams, plus Jack and Lena stand frozen off to the side, not saying a word, and Lena’s honestly surprised they’re being so vocal and loud about their past relationship and no one else is even batting an eye.   
  
“Hey,” Kate says, bring her hands up to cradle Kara’s face. “You’re amazing, okay? You’re going to find someone who wants the same things you do, who’ll treat you better than I ever could.” She leans in and places a gentle kiss on Kara’s cheek, right under her black eye. “I’m sorry about Jeremiah. And I’m sorry for hitting you on the ass, too,” she chuckles.  
  
Kara lets out a watery laugh and wipes her good eye. “Didn’t even hurt. You throw like an infant.”  
  
Kate squeezes her shoulders. “Want to go back in? I’ll buy the next round.” Kara nods and they walk inside with everyone else following, save for Lena. Jack stops short of the door and turns.  
  
“You coming?”  
  
Lena looks at her bare wrist where a watch definitely isn’t sitting. “Actually, it’s getting late. I should go home.”  
  
“Lena—”  
  
“Say goodbye to everyone for me, okay? I’ll see you later, Jack.” She turns and walks down the darkening alleyway, stepping out onto the curb to hail a taxi. She doesn’t want to go back inside the bar just to call her driver. A yellow car pulls up in front of her and she climbs in, giving her address to the cab driver. Lena’s mind is racing between knowing Kate is Kara’s ex and it appears they’ve just made up, none of the team seemed to give a hoot, and yet, Lena can’t help but feel immense shame about it all for no good reason. It’s not like she and Kara have even done anything, but she feels like someone will ultimately find out about them, that they’ll read her mind and just know.   
Lena does her best to forget about it, but she can’t get the image of Kate kissing Kara on the cheek out of her mind. It might not mean anything, and Kate is currently with someone else, but she did say that Kara is a hard person to leave. Lena hates feeling this unnecessary jealousy, especially when she’s the one who turned Kara down, but she can’t help the feeling that she’s lost something she never even had.  
  
“Ma’am? We’re here,” the cab driver says, tearing Lena out of her own thoughts.   
  
“Sorry, how much do I owe you?”  
  
“Seventy cents, ma’am.” Lena pulls out the exact change from her purse and hands it to the driver, thanking him before she exits the car. She sighs as she walks up to her building and lets herself inside. Walking through the front door, she greets the receptionist, who tells her she has a message and hands her a piece of paper. Assuming it’s something work-related, Lena takes it and continues on to the elevator. The key to her apartment slides into the lock as she opens the door and walks into her empty apartment. Part of her thinks she should get a pet, but then realizes she travels way too much to take care of one.  
  
Lena sets her purse down and draws herself a bath, completely forgetting about the message until she walks back into the kitchen and sees the corner of the paper poking out from underneath her coat. She pulls it out and reads it, confused when she sees that it’s from Kara and not some random investor. It confuses her, because it would mean Kara called from the bar. Kara was wondering where she went and why she didn’t say goodbye before leaving, wants her to call the house to let her know she made it home all right.  
  
Glancing at the clock, it’s well past curfew, so she doesn’t call, but she takes the note to her bedroom and slips it inside the drawer of her nightstand. She wonders what happened after she left, but if anything gossip-worthy did, she’s sure she’ll hear it from Jack in the morning. As she’s about to fall asleep, the phone in her apartment rings loudly and she grumbles as she gets out of bed and makes her way to the kitchen. The last time this happened, she had to go bail out her star players.  
  
“Do you know what time it is?” she answers gruffly.  
  
“ _Oh, um, I’m sorry, Coach. I was just—I wanted to make sure you got home safely and you didn’t call, so I wasn’t sure_.”  
  
“Kara,” Lena answers softly. She grips the receiver tightly and feels her heart start to thump through her chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, I thought it would be too late since I know Eve has you all set to a pretty early curfew.”  
  
“ _Oh, yeah_ ,” Kara laughs. “No _one adheres to it, not even Eve. Well, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, I should let you get some sleep_.”  
  
“Are you okay?” Lena blurts out. “I-I mean, it just seemed like your conversation with Kate was pretty serious.”  
  
“ _Oh, I’m fine. It was just nice to get some closure, you know what I mean? I’d spent years thinking that I wasn’t good enough for Kate and she left, because I wasn’t giving her an exciting life, which was partially true, but we just weren’t compatible and I see that now_.”  
  
I sense of relief washes over Lena hearing that, hearing that Kara seems to be done with Kate and she finds herself sliding down onto the floor to sit against the wall. “Well, that’s good. I’m glad you feel better.” There’s a brief pause in their conversation, but Lena can still hear Kara breathing on the other line.   
  
“ _Hey, Lena?_ ”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“ _If… if things were different, if you weren’t the team’s manager and homosexuality wasn’t so frowned upon, do you think you and I would have a chance?_ ”  
  
“I don’t know, Kara.”  
  
She hears Kara sigh. “ _Okay, that’s better than a no,_ ” she says with a chuckle. “ _Oh, I’m getting a look from Alex, I should probably go. Early practice tomorrow_.”  
  
“Oh, okay. Goodnight, Kara.”  
  
“ _Goodnight, Coach._ ”  
  
She hears the click of the other line hanging up and all she wants to do is call Kara right back and tell her that she would give her every chance if things were different, but she doesn’t. She just sits on the floor for an undeterminable amount of time until she’s able to push the heavy weight of despair off of her lap and walk back to her bedroom. She hates that she feels like she’s hurting Kara again and again, but if she lets herself slip even once, if she lets her desires get the better of her, all of this will be over and she’s worked too hard to get L-Corp out of the weeds. She can’t let her heart make her lose sight of that, even if it means breaking Kara’s. 


	5. Chapter 5

The away game against Freeland is being broadcast on the radio, so Lena makes sure to block out a few hours in her day to listen to it with Jess. They pour over some stats, while also checking to see how the profits from the team are holding up. As it turns out, people appear to be getting bored with the league, their profit margin dropping thirty-three percent within the last two games. Lena decides she’s going to have to hold a meeting with the other managers to figure out a way to boost ticket sales, or else they’ll lose the league completely before the second half of the season starts.

“These don’t look good, Miss Luthor.”

“No, they don’t,” Lena answers, flipping through more graphs. She picks up the phone and dials the operator, asking to be patched into the Freeland’s baseball stadium. Once she does, she has the person on the other line write down a message for Jack.

“ _Lady, I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not about to run all the way down to the diamond to deliver your message_.”

“What is your name?” Lena asks curtly.

“ _Uh, Hank?_ ”

“Well, _Hank_ , perhaps you should deliver a message to your boss and tell them that you’re unable to fill out a relatively easy request for Lena Luthor and see how they like that.”

“ _Oh, I’m very sorry, ma’am. I didn’t know it was you. I’ll deliver your message right away._ ”

Lena hangs up the phone and smiles smugly. The game begins and both she and Jess listen to it, waiting to see if Hank actually delivers her message to Jack.

_“Coach Jack Spheer seems to have made a last-minute change to his batting order and is having third baseman Samantha Arias bat first. This is highly irregular, but let’s see what Coach Spheer has in mind.”_

The other announcer takes over. “ _Here’s the wind-up and the pitch. It’s outside for ball one. Freeland pitcher, Grace Choi, winds up again, the pitch, it’s hit! Straight down the first baseline, Arias is rounding first and heading to second. Doesn’t look like she’s slowing down. Anissa Pierce throws to third, but she overshoots it and Arias is heading home. Ball’s thrown to the catcher and Arias is still going! She collides with the catcher; she dropped it! She dropped the ball! Arias is safe! In-field homerun for the Argonauts, what a play.”_

Lena smiles to herself and Jess claps excitedly next to her. The rest of the game isn’t quite as exciting, but National City makes a few interesting trick plays. Alex catches a foul ball behind her back, Kara makes an impressive catch by running toward the dugout and tripping into it, but keeping the ball in her glove. National City continues their win streak, their record increasing to 6-0. If they keep this momentum up, they’ll definitely get into the playoffs.

Lena still calls every manager of the other teams to discuss what to do with the league moving forward. They’ve decided to provide door prizes at their respective home games to entice people to keep coming. Lena’s company will be providing free Luthor bars at some of the games and other surprises.

* * *

“You’re going to _what_?” Jack exclaims.

“I’m going to auction off a date with you during our last home game.”

“I—you—no! I refuse to participate!”

“If you don’t do it, I’ll find someone else to coach the rest of the season. Kara seemed to be able to hold her own; I’m sure she can coach and play at the same time.”

“You wouldn’t,” Jack glowers. “That-that’s blackmail!”

“I’ll buy you a bottle of the alcohol of your choice.”

Jack pauses. “No limit on cost?”

Lena smiles. “No limit.”

“Fine.”

* * *

There’s a knock on Lena’s office door and she tells them to come in. Kara walks in on crutches and Lena’s eyes go wide.

“What happened?”

“I’m assuming you listened to the game broadcast. Remember when I fell into the dugout? Apparently, I hurt myself worse than I thought and playing on it the rest of the game didn’t help.”

“God, Kara,” she stands up and pulls the chair out for her to sit in. Kara sets her crutches down, leaning them against Lena’s desk and sits. “How long are you out for?”

“Doc said it’s just a sprain, so hopefully only a week or two.”

“So, you’re going to miss the game against Central City?”

Kara frowns and rubs her hands down her thighs. “Yeah, most likely. I hate this, I should be out at practice right now, but Coach Spheer made me go home, because I was ‘backseat coaching,’ as he put it.”

“And yet, you’re here,” Lena observes.

“I didn’t want to go sit in an empty house by myself all day. Is there anything I can do here to make myself useful?”

Lena takes pity on her and finds Kara some letters that need to be stamped and sealed. She has to admit, it feels nice having Kara nearby, even if she’s intensely staring down at each envelope with her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth and making sure each stamp is put on perfectly straight. It’s frustratingly adorable and doing nothing to quell the bubbling feelings she holds for this woman and the ensuing shame that comes promptly after.

She’s given up on wishing she were normal, wishing she could just find a husband that her mother approves of, who would help run the company and eventually take over as most men do. Normal was never in the cards for Lena and, honestly, normal is boring. She can’t imagine her life being like other women’s – doting wife, having supper ready every evening and tucking the kids into bed, having tea with the girls and gossiping about how Esther and her husband are on the outs and sleeping in separate rooms. That life isn’t for Lena.

Ever since meeting Kara, she feels like that life will never be meant for her. It isn’t that Kara’s changed her view or made her proclivities feel more acceptable, but it’s more that she doesn’t quite feel so alone in her feelings, especially after meeting Sara and Ava, as well. Still, she knows that there’s no way she can ever act on those feelings, not just because of her company or her mother, but because she’s afraid of losing the one constant she has – her reputation. She’s been known for many things: her business ethic, the way she handles herself in a boardroom full of men, her no-nonsense attitude. If she loses that, if her mother disowns her, what is she left with? Her name will mean nothing, the respect she’s worked so hard to earn will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Deep down, she knows that it isn’t everything, but at the same time, she can’t know that Kara will stick around. No one ever has. If she loses her name and her company, then loses Kara, she’ll have nothing, and she can’t afford to become another washed up ghost, disgraced by her own emotions that she couldn’t control. She’ll become her father.

“Lena?” Kara’s voice rings in her ears. She looks up to see the blonde staring at her with concern.

“Yes, sorry. Are you finished?”

“I am. Is everything okay?”

“Fine,” Lena forces a smile across her face. She looks at the clock. “It’s time for lunch, are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry. Alex calls me a bottomless pit, but I like to think I have a fast metabolism.”

Lena chuckles as she picks up her purse and heads to the door. She waits while Kara picks up her crutches and walks out of the office.

“Jess, I’m going to lunch. Go ahead and take yours, too.”

“Thank you, Miss Luthor. Enjoy your lunch, you two.” Lena doesn’t like the knowing smile on Jess’ face, but she elects to ignore it and continues walking down the hall. Kara is having a hard time keeping up, but she makes a valiant effort. They enter the elevator together and Lena pushes the button for the lobby.

“What would you like to eat?” Lena asks.

Kara shrugs, her arms dangling over the padded armrests of the crutches. “Anything, I’m not picky.”

“Salad bar?” Lena asks with an amused smirk. The disgusted look on Kara’s face answers that and Lena laughs. “There’s a deli down the street with the best sourdough. How about that?”

“Sounds perfect,” Kara answers, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth while giving Lena a bashful smile.

They walk a half a block down the street and Lena opens the door for Kara. They find a small table against the window and sit down. The waitress comes by to take their order and Lena orders herself a BLT on sourdough. When the waitress looks at Kara expectantly, the ball player looks panicked.

“Um, same,” she says and Lena raises an eyebrow. The waitress looks between the both of them, rolls her eyes, and walks away.

“So, Nia’s turning twenty-one this weekend, right?”

“She is,” Kara replies with a smile. “I know she’s excited. She’s been dying to play.”

Lena nods. “Well, we’ll have to throw her a big party, won’t we?”

“We?” Kara takes a sip of her water with an eyebrow quirked.

Lena rolls her eyes. “’We’ as in the team. You know what I meant,” she huffs. She looks out the window and watches the passersby, taking a stroll down the sidewalk. It’s strange how some things still feel the same, even though they’re at war. It worries her that some major news is going to come out and rock her entire foundation, pop her comfortable bubble, but that might actually be a good thing. It will remind her that the country is fighting for something and that no one is really safe, even under the guise of a women’s baseball league keeping them all distracted.

“Where’d you go?” Kara asks.

“Just thinking.”

“About what?” Kara picks up a glass of water that the waitress dropped off and takes a sip.

“The war.” Lena’s eyes don’t leave the window, because she’s afraid if she looks at Kara, it’ll break her resolve that she’s worked so hard to keep up. She sees Kara nod out of the corner of her eye.

“We’ll win,” Kara says with assuredness.

“How can you be so sure?” Lena asks, finally giving in and turning her head. 

“We have to,” Kara replies with a gentle smile. “I’ve been writing to this soldier, like a pen pal, to keep his morale up overseas. Few of us are doing it. He’s stationed in Italy and says things are getting pretty hairy out there, but they’re still confident. Can’t imagine what they’re going through over there and I’m here playing a sport like nothing’s even happening.”

“Hey,” Lena says, reaching across the table to take Kara’s hand. She does it without thinking, sliding her fingers around Kara’s. Kara’s hands are actually surprisingly soft, considering she worked on a farm for years and is now playing baseball. They’re warm and that warmth spreads across Lena’s body. She remembers herself and continues, “What you’re doing here is important, too. The soldiers who are on leave, the men and women who can’t fight, they all need something to hold onto, some shred of normalcy, and if that’s baseball, you’re providing that for them.”

Kara looks deep into her eyes, brow slightly furrowed and Lena watches her throat bob as she swallows thickly. She’s sure if they weren’t in public and didn’t have a table stuck between them, Kara would probably try to kiss her and Lena would probably let her. The moment passes when the waitress comes back with their plates and Lena tears her hand away, looking down at her lap.

They eat in relative silence, the only noises coming from Kara, who’s moaning with every bite of the sandwich that she takes.

“This is so good. You weren’t kidding about the sourdough.”

“I’m rarely wrong,” Lena answers taking her own bite, the toasted bread crunching between her teeth. Kara looks at her then with a different kind of hunger and it unnerves Lena like not many things can. It’s shifting everything inside of her on its axis, tipping the scales, and it feels like she’s sinking beneath the rapid current of Kara’s heated gaze and just as she’s about to climb on top of the table and press their mouths together, the waitress comes by with the check. Grateful that she didn’t have the opportunity to make a complete fool out of herself in public, Lena pays and gives the waitress a large tip. She seems to need it.

The hunger from the deli seems to linger even after they’ve left. They walk down the street together, Kara hobbling along on her crutches, but she keeps shooting glances in Lena’s direction. When they arrive back at L-Corp, Kara stops just before the door and lingers.

“Are you not coming back up?” Lena asks.

Kara shakes her head. “I think if I go up there with you and we’re alone in your office, I won’t be able to control myself, so it’s probably best if I go home.”

The blunt honesty catches Lena off-guard, but she’s glad it’s out there in the open. She isn’t sure what switch got flipped and what made Kara become even more enamored, but Lena knows she’s right and if they want to keep their relationship strictly professional, they should probably part ways.

“At least let me call my driver,” Lena offers.

“It’s okay,” Kara says with an easy smile. “I’ll hail a taxi. Don’t work too hard.” She raises a hand and limps over to the edge of the curb and a yellow car pulls up right away. She gives Lena one last look before climbing inside and Lena stays on the sidewalk until she can’t see the cab anymore. She lets out a shallow breath before walking inside and when she gets up to her floor, she passes by Jess’ desk.

“Miss Luthor, your mother called while you were out.”

Lena clenches her jaw. “And what did Mother Dearest want?”

“She wanted to tell you that she read your interview – the one you gave after the Gotham game, about having different races in the league.”

“Christ, let me guess, she’s disappointed in me wanting to allow them to play?”

“She said she’s glad you said something, because it means more folks will buy L-Corp products. She thinks it’ll help broaden the consumer base.”

Lena resists the urge to scoff. Of course her mother sees her hope for diversity as a way to profit off of them, but she supposes it’s better than what she had originally thought Lillian was calling for. She finishes up her day, but before that, she sets up the transportation and lodging for the team for their game in Central City at the end of the week. She’s just about to hang up with the receptionist at the hotel, but she pauses.

“Actually, can you book one more room, please?”

* * *

Nia’s party happens on that Saturday, the entire team decorated the house earlier in the day and Lena paid for all of the refreshments. Jack brings the liquor, naturally, and plays bartender in the kitchen. Records play throughout the bottom floor and some of the women are dancing in the middle of the living room.

Kara’s leaning on one of the kitchen counters helping Jack pour the drinks and handing them out to people. It’s one of the few times that they’ve been allowed to drink right before they travel for an away game. Lena mingles with the other players, talking to Sam about Ruby and also about her husband being overseas. She gets a feel for what the women are going to do after the season is over and most are either going back to the factories they were working in or finding work elsewhere.

She’s directly avoiding going into the kitchen for alcohol, which means indirectly avoiding Kara, because she knows the second she goes in there, she’ll be offered some sort of mixed concoction of unknown origins and she can’t afford to lose her head. Kara doesn’t seem to get the memo and hobbles her way over, holding a cup in her hand and offers it to Lena.

“Here, try this.”

“What is it?” Lena asks dubiously, eyeing the cup of dark liquid.

“Just try it,” Kara insists with a mischievous glean in her eye.

“No, thank you,” Lena smiles politely, folding her arms over her chest. Kara frowns at her and takes a sip out of the cup instead.

“Dance with me, then.”

Lena laughs and gestures down at Kara’s injured ankle. “You can barely walk.”

Kara makes a frustrated groan. “You are such a stick in the mud!”

“You’ll get over it,” Lena quips back, smiling amusedly. They stand back and watch the rest dance; Alex and Kelly dance around before Maggie joins in, Sam dances with Ruby, and Nia’s in the center of it all with Siobhan and Leslie. She watches Kara looking at everyone having fun while she’s stuck on the sidelines and takes pity on her. “I’ll tell you what, come sit outside with me on the porch, so you don’t hurt yourself any further. Kara lights up a little.

“Only if you have a drink with me – just one.”

Lena rolls her eyes. “Fine, one drink.” Kara heads back to the kitchen and tells Jack to make Lena a drink.

“Not too strong,” she warns him.

“I would never,” Jack replies, with mock offense. He mixes a few liquids together into a cup and hands it to Lena. She sniffs it and takes a small sip, trying not to gag.

“Is this straight gin?” she asks.

Jack just shrugs at her and gives her a wink. She would pour it over his head, but it would be a waste of alcohol, so she makes her way out to the patio with Kara following behind. They sit down and Lena gulps down another disgusting sip before putting her cup on one of the tables. Kara’s looking up at the clear sky wistfully.

“My Pa and I used to lie out in the bed of his truck and watch for shooting stars. He always told me they were angels on their way home.”

“You miss him?” Lena asks.

Kara nods. “Yeah, he taught Alex and I everything we know about baseball. After the Danvers’ adopted me, I felt so lost and wouldn’t really speak to anyone, but Jeremiah gave me his first mitt and taught me how to pitch. Baseball brought the family together and he’s the one who made me want to play professional ball. When he died, we couldn’t even look at a bat without crying, so that’s one of the reasons why we quit, aside from having to work on the farm.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Lena stares up, trying to concentrate on the sky to keep her eyes from tearing up.

Kara sits up and turns toward her. “Look, Miss Luthor, I know you probably feel some sort of responsibility for what happened to him in the factory, but you weren’t there. You couldn’t have known what would happen. Accidents like that happen all the time and Pa was just there in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Lena wants to tell her that Lionel cut so many corners and it was a preventable accident. She wants to say that he would still be alive if her father hadn’t been trying to cheat the system, but she doesn’t. She feels like a coward and doesn’t know how she’s any better than her parents. A hand lands on her knee and Kara’s still looking at her. Lena slowly slides her hand down her leg to place it on top, meeting Kara’s blue eyes and her breath gets caught in her throat. It’s like everything is moving in slow motion as Kara leans forward, tilting her head slightly to press her lips to her cheek. Lena’s eyes dart behind Kara’s shoulder to make sure no one’s watching and she relaxes a little when it appears that Jack’s left the kitchen and no one else is at the windows. She brings her other hand up to rest on Kara’s shoulder as the blonde nuzzles her nose into Lena’s neck. When she feels lips trace down her jaw, she snaps out of whatever haze she’s in and pushes Kara away.

Kara sits back and her eyes widen. “I’m sorry—I thought—that was completely inappropriate of me.” She fumbles with her crutches and stands up.

“Kara,” Lena calls out, but Kara doesn’t acknowledge her and walks back inside the house. Lena sighs and picks up her full cup of alcohol, lamenting that she can’t blame any of the night’s transgressions on being blackout drunk. She takes one more look up at the stars before walking inside. Jess grabs her by the arm, obviously inebriated, and drags her into the other room.

“It’s cake time!”

Everyone gathers around while Nia stands in front of the cake. Sam is the least drunk and lights the candles while everyone starts to sing – everyone except for Lena and Kara. Kara is looking down at the cake, avoiding eye contact with Lena and she’s suddenly regretting ever coming to this party.

* * *

Lena doesn’t know what she’s doing. Her suitcase is sitting on her bed, wide open, and she’s been staring at it for the past ten minutes. Jack called her earlier in the evening to make sure his roster was correct when he saw her name on it and she told him that it’s for team morale. It’s a thinly veiled excuse and she knows Jack can see right through it, but it was the best she could come up with on the fly.

After agonizing on what to pack for far too long, Lena finally starts adding different things to her suitcase and getting her toiletries ready. By the time she’s ready to climb into bed, she realizes that her whole body is buzzing with anticipation and even though she knows – or, well, can’t allow things with Kara to escalate, she’s excited to be on another road game with her. If she’s being completely honest with herself, she genuinely enjoys Kara’s company. It’s strange for her to think that she would get along with a country girl from Midvale, but there she is, packing up a suitcase to follow her… she doesn’t even know what Kara is to her. Are they friends? Colleagues? Is Kara still her employee? In any case, Lena absolutely does not want to think about why she’s going to sit herself on another bus for hours while Ruby screams at the top of her lungs about how she wants chocolate or that she’s bored and definitely does not want to know the reasons why she would put herself through that torture. Not to mention, she and Kara haven’t spoken since Nia’s party and she’s not sure where they stand.

She arrives at the bus early the next morning and a few others are also there packing their luggage into the storage compartments. Eve is there checking off the names of the players and smiles at Lena as she walks up.

“Good morning, Miss Luthor.”

“Morning, Eve. I’m assuming Jack isn’t here yet.”

“Of course not,” she laughs. “He should be here at four fifty-nine.”

Lena looks at her watch. “A minute before we’re supposed to leave.” Eve nods and gives her nose a tap with the pencil she’s holding.

She climbs up the stairs of the bus to claim her seat near the front. She finds it’s best to sit up there and let the players comingle in the back. The sun hasn’t even begun to rise yet, so everything is dark, but there are a few dim lights turned on inside of the bus. She looks out the window to watch cars pull up sporadically, the women climbing out of the cars and kissing their loved ones goodbye before heading inside the bus. Nia comes in and then Kelly, followed by Siobhan and Leslie.

The rest of the team continues to arrive within the hour and when Nia comes up, she sees Lena and lights up immediately.

“You’re coming?” she asks.

“Appears so,” Lena replies with a smile. Kara and Alex walk up behind her, Kara giving her a tight-lipped smile and Alex nodding at her. Lena sighs and knows it’s going to be a long trip. Right on schedule, Jack arrives last and he throws his luggage below the bus while the driver closes it up. He takes his seat behind Lena, as usual and slumps down, using his coat as a pillow.

“Long night?”

“Night never ended,” Jack mutters.

Lena shakes her head and chuckles. “Why do you do this to yourself? You knew we had to be here early. You couldn’t go one night without drinking and womanizing?”

“I’ll have you know, I was doing something _very important_ that consisted of neither drinking nor womanizing.”

“I’m sure,” Lena responded doubtfully, flicking the bill of his hat while he swats her hand away and grumbles a curse under his breath. The bus driver gets into his seat and starts the engine, turning the lights off, so everyone can get some sleep. Lena, however, doesn’t get much sleep between Ruby running up and down the aisle again, Jack kicking her seat while he sleeps, and Kara being within visual range.

They make a pitstop at a diner and file in to find seats and order some breakfast. Lena slides into a booth next to Jack and Kara sits on the opposite side of the table. Leslie sits on the edge and passes some menus down. Lena looks through her menu, but her eyes keep looking up in search of Kara, who’s talking to Kelly about something.

“What are you going to get?” Jack asks her.

Lena’s eyes whip back down to the menu. “Not sure yet.”

“I think I can guess what you’d actually prefer to eat,” he winks.

“Oh, shove it, Jack,” Lena growls.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bus.” Lena ignores him and keeps scanning through the menu, realizing she has no appetite. She settles on eggs and wheat toast and listens in to the conversations going around her. She hears Kara talking to Jack and looks over.

“You think we’re going to beat Central City again? Without me?”

“Sure, if the rest of you all play to your strengths and keep a level head. Don’t get cocky just because you’re undefeated. As for playing without you, there are eight other women on the field. We’re just lucky that Nia turned twenty-one before this game, so we can sub her in.” 

It hurts a little to see Kara trying to desperately to not look in her direction at all, but part of her wonders if it’s better that way. She doesn’t regret pushing Kara away at the party, because that definitely wasn’t the place for it, but she does regret hurting Kara’s feelings. 

After breakfast is done and paid for, they all pile back into the bus to finish the second leg of their trip. Lena does her best to try and get some sleep, but with the team breaking out into random songs or Jack telling one of his many stories about being a baseball star, it’s next to impossible to sleep with all the racket.

“What song are they singing?” Lena asks Jess, hearing the melodic twang of a ukulele being played by Maggie.

“I believe they’re coming up with their own team song, ma’am.”

“Is that unusual?”

“No, not really. They’re just passing the time, it’ll give them something to do and they can sing it as a sort of victory song, I suppose.” Lena hums and continues reading through one of her magazines.

“Hey, Danvers has a pretty nice voice. Should I ask her to come serenade you?” Jack asks, poking his head over the seat. Lena rolls up her magazine and whacks Jack in the face.

They finally arrive in Central City and head straight toward their hotel to get checked in. Lena and Jack walk up to the receptionist and give their organization name.

“Okay, I see here that we have five rooms booked, two singles and the rest doubles.”

Lena’s brows pull together. “Actually, no, there should be three singles.” The woman looks through her records and then looks up regretfully.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, we only have two available at the moment. Perhaps we can bring an extra bed into on of the single rooms.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, we only have one available at the moment. Perhaps we can bring an extra bed into the single room.”

“Yeah, we could be roommates,” Jack elbows her jokingly.

“No, that is not happening,” Lena scoffs.

“There’s an extra spot in our room. We all figured out our rooming situation on the bus,” Kara says, taking a step forward. “It’s just Sam, Ruby, and I. None of the other girls wanted to be in the same room as a kid.”

Lena swallows and searches Jack and Jess for an answer, but they just give her a look that tells her they don’t have one. She turns to the receptionist. “You have absolutely no rooms available for the next two nights?”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, we’re fully booked.”

Lena clenches her jaw and turns to Kara. “If I could stay with you, that would be great, thank you.” Kara flashes her a tiny smile and a nod, and grabs Lena’s bag on her way to the elevator. The other players were already gone, so it was just the two of them. They stand a couple feet apart, watching the numbers light up as they ascend the floors.

“I’m sorry about Nia’s party,” Kara says, still looking up at the slowly changing numbers.

“You have nothing to apologize for, Kara. If we had been anywhere else…” she can’t stop herself from speaking, from explaining herself. She wants Kara to know it isn’t _her_ that’s the problem.

“What? You would have kissed me?” Kara chuckles dismissively. Her hands grip around the handles of their suitcases and Lena feels her pulse start to race as she thinks about what she’s about to do and the implications and subsequent consequences that will arise from it, but she doesn’t care anymore. She’s tired of kowtowing to society and to people who only see her as a name, who think she’s going to turn out just like her father and fail right in front of them as they laugh and say _we told you so_.

Lena turns to face Kara, pushing her back into the elevator wall, and presses their lips together. Her chest feels like a storm traveling across expanses of land and she anchors herself by grabbing onto the hem of Kara’s shirt and the pitcher grips the handles of the suitcases tighter. The kiss is slow, gentle, chaste. It’s innocent, in a way, considering the fact that if anyone who doesn’t know them catches them in the act, they’ll be run out of the establishment. It doesn’t feel like they’re doing anything wrong – in fact, something has never felt so right to Lena, but the feeling is totally gone and replaced by fear once the elevator bell rings and the doors slide open. She pushes herself away from Kara immediately, the blonde’s face pushing forward to chase her, but Lena is already walking out and down the hallway.

They stop in front of their room, Kara biting down on her lip nervously, as Lena unlocks the door and opens it. Sam and Ruby are lying down on one of the beds, appearing to read a bedtime story together. When they see the two of them walk in, Ruby jumps up and runs right for Kara.

“Kara! Took you long enough,” the smaller girl says, hugging the blonde by the waist.

Kara laughs. “Sorry, kiddo, I got held up. What are you doing?”

“I was reading mommy a story. Want to join?”

Kara looks behind her shoulder, “What about Lena?”

Lena waves her off. “Go ahead, I’ll take a shower.” She grabs her suitcase and puts it on one of the chairs sitting against the wall and opens it, grabbing some clothes. She realizes suddenly that she only brought silk nightgowns, thinking she would be sleeping alone. Internally groaning, she pulls them out and retreats to the bathroom.

The reflection in the mirror stares back at her mockingly, but she brings her fingers up to her lips, lightly running them across to remember the feeling of Kara’s against hers. She turns the shower on, having half a mind to keep the water set to cold, but turns the knob to hot instead. By the time she’s done showering, she gets dressed and walks out, toweling off her hair. Kara looks over and does a comically obvious double-take when she sees her in her nightgown and her face turns beet red. 

Lena grabs a book out of her bag and climbs into the other bed, underneath the covers. She slides her reading glasses down her nose and opens the book to the first page.

“Kara? Are you going to finish the book?” Ruby asks, tugging on her sleeve.

“Oh, right, yeah,” Kara replies, finally peeling her eyes off of Lena. She speed-reads through the rest of the book, kisses Ruby on the head and then grabs her own clothing out of her suitcase, walking into the bathroom. When she emerges, she’s wearing a set of pajamas and gets into the opposite side of the bed.

“Ready to turn the lights out?” she asks.

Sam and Ruby tell her they are and Lena nods, setting her book down, so Kara pulls on the cord of the lamp on the nightstand and lies back. The only sound Lena can hear are her own labored breaths, along with Kara’s beside her. Her hand is flat on the mattress between them and then she feels fingers slowly reaching over to cover hers. They twine their fingers together and Lena’s throat goes dry as she feels Kara’s thumb stroking her knuckles. It feels like they lie like that for an hour, just holding hands and breathing in sync, listening to the soft snores coming from Sam across the room. Kara turns on her side facing Lena, bringing their hands up to her face, and she begins dragging Lena’s fingers across her lips, kissing them softly. Lena’s breath gets caught in her throat and she can barely see the outline of Kara’s face and their hands in the dark. A chill runs down her spine and she tears her hand away, bringing it up to Kara’s face, holding her there.

“How’s your ankle?”

“Feels fine,” Kara whispers quietly. “Never better.”

Lena leans in, searching for Kara’s mouth and when they find each other, they fall into another kiss, Lena’s heart beating out of her chest as she feels a hand travel down her arm to her waist, gripping onto her nightgown. A soft moan escapes her mouth as she feels a tongue trace across her bottom lip and Kara shushes her, urging for her to be quiet. Kara kisses her jaw then and down the column of her neck, her fingertips gliding down Lena’s thigh. As it travels back up, Lena remembers they’re not along in their room and her hand grabs onto Kara’s, stopping her movements.

“Are you okay?” she whispers.

“We can’t. Ruby and Sam are in the room,” Lena replies.

Kara cups her cheek and kisses her on the forehead. “Another time, then.” She lies back down on her back and Lena gets out of bed to go to the bathroom to clean herself up. She is incredibly worked up and frustrated, which translates onto the field the next day, and she finds herself yelling a lot more during their game with Central City.

“Ma’am?”

“What is it Jess?” Lena responds, clapping loudly as Nia makes a great play in Kara’s stead. Kara has been assistant coaching next to Jack, sending Lena the odd wink when she thinks no one is watching.

“Nothing. You just seem very involved in this game.”

“It’s the first game of the second half of the season. A win will set the tone for the rest of the games, don’t you think?”

“Of course, Miss Luthor,” Jess replies, dropping the subject. The team visibly struggles without Kara out on the field, but they pull off a win, just barely. Lena heads down to the locker rooms and finds Jack.

“That one was close,” she says lowly.

“Didn’t have a doubt in my mind,” he replies. “Although, I will be relieved once Danvers gets back out there.”

“As a player, or just so she’ll stop taking over your job?”

‘’Both,” Jack says with a laugh. “Come on, let’s have a celebratory drink.” They head to a local bar, recommended by one of the players on the opposing team, Iris. It’s an Irish pub and it’s loud, but they somehow find a couple tables next to each other and sit down. Kara’s at the other table, but Lena’s actually thankful for it, because she’s not sure she’ll be able to keep her hands to herself. She’s been on edge all day and has been replaying their kisses in her head since the night before.

Leslie, Maggie, and Siobhan set down pitchers of beer and glasses on both tables while others start pouring them out. Lena’s eyes catch Kara’s and the blonde raises her glass in her direction. Jack stands up and bangs his hand down on his table to get everyone’s attention.

“I just want to say that today’s win solidifies our position within the league and we’re well on our way to the playoffs. I know the season started out a little rough, but we got through it and I’m proud of each and every one of you.” He raises his glass. “Here’s to the Argonauts! Cheers!”

Everyone else echoes his sentiments and they clink their glasses together and take sips of their beer. Lena takes a look at her team and feels a sense of pride. She’s the one who put this all together and they’ve had a successful season thus far. No one could take that away from her. A few of the girls break off and go to the dancefloor, some of them finding partners from the bar, but Kara stays behind. Lena watches as Jack also gets dragged off to dance, so she stands up and walks over to the other table, sitting in a chair next to Kara.

“Hi,” the ball player smiles.

“Hi,” Lena replies, curling a strand of hair over her ear. “Not up for dancing?”

Kara laughs. “I’m not really much of a dancer. I used my ankle as an excuse, but it’s honestly feeling a lot better. I’ll probably be ready to play by the Star City game.”

“Good. That’s good,” Lena says, turning her bottle of beer with her fingers. “The team definitely missed you out there.”

“Nah, Nia did just fine. She’s going to be really good with a little more experience. Do you think they’ll keep the league after the men get back?”

“I honestly don’t know. I don’t see them paying for both, unfortunately.” She hates that a lot of the women will have to go back to their old lives once the season ends. A lot of them found so much joy and purpose playing the sport. It gives her an idea that she’ll need to speak with Jess about at a later date.

At the end of the night, they all head back to the hotel together and Sam breaks off to go to Eve’s room to pick up Ruby. Being alone, Kara nervously paces around the room, trying to look busy and Lena stops her rapid movements, watching Kara’s eyes dart around and landing on Lena’s lips. Lena presses herself up against Kara, pushing them both against the dresser in the middle of the room. Their faces are inches apart and Kara holds herself back, waiting for Lena to make the first move, to show her that she wants it.

Lena licks her lips before kissing Kara hard, threading her fingers through her hair and gripping her neck tightly. She bites down and tugs on Kara’s bottom lip and the ball player moans and pulls at her hips, maneuvering her knee between Lena’s legs. Lena grinds down and gasps at the feeling, but they hear the door unlocking and Lena pushes herself away from Kara immediately, walking over to her suitcase to grab her nightgown. Sam walks in and sees Kara still sitting on the edge of the dresser, looking positively debauched and raises an eyebrow.

“Do we need to give you two a moment?”

“Uh, no, nope! We’re good,” Kara squeaks, flattening her hair down. Lena rushes off to the bathroom and shuts the door.

She absolutely takes a cold shower this time.

* * *

In the morning, everyone has a quick breakfast and they pile into the bus for the long ride home. Lena’s mind keeps going back to the night before, kissing Kara, feeling her leg between hers. No one had ever made her feel that desperate before and it was intoxicating. She wants to feel it again, but they’re treading through dangerous territory. No matter how the rest of the team feels, her mother would definitely not approve and her board wouldn’t either. They couldn’t have a deviant at the head of their illustrious company. That would still be worse than having a CEO who cut corners and caused the death of fifteen factory workers. 

Almost like Kara can sense Lena’s thinking about her, she makes her way up and sits in the seat across from her.

“Hey, Coach. Not tired?”

“I don’t sleep much in the first place,” she responds and Kara tilts her head.

“That doesn’t sound healthy.”

“You sound like my mother,” Lena rolls her eyes. She realizes she’s never spoken about her mother in front of Kara before, with good reason. Any conversation revolving around Lillian would almost always end in either heartbreak or unadulterated rage.

“If your mother cares about your well-being and thinks you’re incredibly beautiful, then I’ll accept that as a compliment.” Lena self-consciously looks around the bus and Jack’s snoring away and everyone else is far enough that they shouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. The bus driver doesn’t get paid enough to care. Kara pokes her leg with her foot. “Hey, stop worrying so much. I’m telling you no one cares.”

“No one cares until they do, Kara. You’ll find the one person who _does_ care and they’ll make it their life’s mission to make yours miserable.”

“Well, I’m telling you no one in this bus minds.”

“Even Alex?” Lena asks. The last thing she wants is Kara’s sister after her, considering they’re both a package deal. Where one goes, the other follows, and if anything were to happen between her and Kara, she wouldn’t just be losing one of her best players; she would be losing two, and if _that_ happened, she could kiss her hopes for a championship goodbye, along with her team’s sponsors, and possibly even the entire team.

“Alex respects you. That’s about all you’ll probably get at this point, which is more than she gives most others.”

“Then I’ll consider that a win,” Lena grins. They spend the rest of the bus ride talking and trading stories. When they arrive back in National City, everyone starts going their separate ways. Kara walks up behind Lena as she’s grabbing her bags and clears her throat.

“So, um, I was wondering—I know this isn’t protocol or even appropriate, but I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime? Away from team gatherings, just us.”

“Are you asking me out on a date, Miss Danvers?”

“I—what—no! That’s—no, not a _date_ , per se, more like a friendly outing. As friends. Colleagues. Just two people having a meal together.”

Lena laughs at Kara’s fumbling and finds it annoyingly endearing. “I’m free on Tuesday. How does that sound?”

“Oh, great! That’s perfect. Um, okay, well, bye.”

“Jesus Kara, will you hurry your ass up?” Alex yells from their taxi. Kara gives Lena a wave as she runs off and Alex smacks her before she climbs into the vehicle. Lena laughs at the sight and wonders what the hell she’s thinking, agreeing to see Kara outside of their official team events, but if this trip told her anything, it was that Kara was getting harder and harder to resist. It was foolish to just wait for the dam to break when the cracks keep getting bigger and bigger with each encounter. If she meets it head-on, at least then she might be able to figure out how to build up some protection around her heart should she need to break things off with Kara completely. But, for now, she’ll at least entertain the idea of spending some time with Kara outside of practices and games. A little indulgence never hurt anyone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not being consistent with my updates. The world is a garbage fire and I'm struggling to find motivation to write. Hope all of you are staying safe and healthy.

It’s Tuesday.

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s the day Lena and Kara are supposed to go out. Kara called her office earlier in the morning to make sure they were still on, but she was very vague about what they’d be doing. So, Lena just goes about her business, juggling about six different projects at once, while also trying to figure out how they’re going to bring in more fans for the Star City game. She’s already spoken to her chocolate bar factory to have them produce an extra few batches to hand out before the game, so that will entice the younger crowd, at least.

There’s a knock on her door and Jack peeks his head in without waiting for Lena to invite him in. “Hey, Lena, you have a minute?”

“For you? Always,” she smirks good-naturedly. Jack walks in and sits in the chair across from her. “How can I help you, Jack?”

Jack folds his hands together and looks uncharacteristically nervous. Clearing his throat, he looks up at Lena with a shallow warmth in his eyes. “You and I have been friends for a long time,” he starts. Lena swallows a lump in her throat; this can’t be good, but she lets him continue. “And I just really wanted to thank you again for giving me this opportunity. Things have been… difficult for me since my injury and I lost a little bit of myself when I couldn’t play baseball anymore. But you never gave up on me, you kept giving me so many chances and now with this, being a coach, I finally feel like this is what I’m meant to be doing. I can still play the game I love and teach others, so thank you.” Lena smiles and reaches across her desk to offer her hand. Jack takes it and squeezes it. “Not to mention, I also get to watch you flounder whenever Danvers is around, so that makes it all worth it.”

Lena scoffs and throws his hand away while he laughs. She stares at one of the papers on her desk and chews on the corner of her lip. “Kara asked me to go out with her.”

“On a date?” Jack asks, his eyes widening.

“Not exactly,” replies Lena. “More like a friend outing.”

“A friend outing,” Jack repeats, raising an eyebrow. “You do know how ridiculous that sounds, don’t you?”

“I’m not calling it a date, Jack.”

“Okay, okay,” he holds his hands up. “What are you two going to do on your _friend outing_?”

“Probably talk about how inept Kara’s coach is.” Jack slumps low in his chair and clutches his chest.

“Et tu, Lena?”

There’s another knock on Lena’s door and Jess opens the door. “Sorry to bother you, Miss Luthor, but Miss Danvers is on the phone.” Jack smiles suggestively at her and she promptly ignores him.

“Thank you, Jess.” She looks back at Jack. “She’s been calling me all day and asking me random questions.”

“Well, don’t let me keep you from your lady love.” He stands up as Lena glares at him. “Have fun on your outing,” he winks. Lena waits for him to shut the door behind him before she picks up her receiver.

“Hello?”

“Lena, hi. It’s Kara. What’s your favorite animal?”

“My favorite—um, elephants, I suppose.”

“Elephants,” Kara parrots. “Okay, thanks!”

“Kara, wait,” she makes sure the line doesn’t disconnect. “Can’t you give me some kind of hint about what we’re doing?”

“That’ll ruin the surprise.” Lena can tell Kara is smiling. “I’ll come pick you up at five. See you soon, Coach.” The call ends and Lena finds herself actually looking forward to their meeting, not dreading it. By the time five o’ clock rolls around, Lena is packing up her paperwork and shoving it haphazardly into her bag. She walks out of her office and Jess is waiting for her at her desk.

“Miss Danvers is waiting for you in the lobby.”

“Jess, did you have something to do with this?”

“Of course not, Miss Luthor. I would never meddle in your affairs.”

“Sure,” Lena laughs, unconvinced. She rides the elevator down to the ground floor and walks out. Most of the employees have already gone home, so it’s relatively empty, but she sees Kara leaning against one of the pillars. She turns when she hears Lena’s heels clack against the tiles and turns around. If Lena hadn’t already been holding her breath, she definitely would have lost all of the air in her lungs when she saw Kara.

Kara’s wearing a crisp white shirt with the sleeves folded up to her elbows and has a blue blazer thrown over her shoulder. Her hair is in a loose ponytail, but she looks very handsome. Her crutches are gone, as well, and Lena notices her limp has all but vanished when she sees her walking up to her.

“Hey!”

“Hi,” Lena exhales, unconsciously licking her lips.

“Um, are you ready? Car’s just out front.”

Lena nods and starts walking. “Wait, whose car is it?”

“I’m borrowing it, a friend owed me a favor.” They walk outside and the car in question is sitting on the curb. Kara opens the passenger side door for Lena and bows as she enters. “Madame.”

Lena laughs and rolls her eyes at the gesture and she watches Kara round the front of the car and she hops into the driver’s seat. The engine roars to life as they pull away and into traffic. Benny Goodman plays through the radio and Kara taps her fingers on the steering wheel along with the beat.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Lena asks.

“Nope, but you’ll probably figure it out soon.”

Lena looks out the window and starts to recognize the area, it’s where the baseball field is. Kara parks the car in the center of the empty parking lot and exits the vehicle, jogging over to Lena’s side, so she can open the door. Kara then opens the trunk and pulls out a large basket and a blanket, tucking it under her arm.

“Kara, why are we here? Isn’t it locked?”

“Well, the benefit of being friends with the CEO of the company who owns the entire team, as well as the property that they play in, I get to pull my weight around a little. Plus, I know the building manager and he—”

“—owes you a favor,” Lena finishes. They walk through the front entrance and Kara locks up behind them, so no stragglers can come in. Kara escorts her through the eerily empty hallways until they make their way to the field. The lights are on and its actually quite peaceful when it’s just the two of them there. Setting the basket down, Kara unrolls the blanket and whips it a few times before laying it flat on the outfield grass. She offers her hand, which Lena takes, and helps her sit down. Kara starts digging through the basket, setting all of the different foods on top and pulling out a bottle of wine and two glasses out last.

“I thought this wasn’t a date,” Lena comments with a quirked eyebrow. Kara looks down at everything and her shoulders sag.

“Shoot.”

Lena laughs. “It’s fine, sit down.” Kara does and starts uncorking the bottle while Lena unwraps their meat and cheese plate. She swipes a square of cheddar and pops it into her mouth before Kara hands her a glass.

“Should we toast?” Kara asks.

“To what?”

“Uh… to… friendship? A successful baseball season?”

“Sure, cheers,” Lena smiles and they knock their glasses together before sipping their wine. “So, you bring all of your friends here?”

Kara sputters and chokes. “What? No, of course not!”

Lena touches Kara’s knee. “Relax, I’m joking.”

“Oh,” Kara chuckles nervously, “right.”

They continue eating and talking for about a half hour and then Kara jumps up. “Come on, get up.”

“Why?” Lena asks dubiously.

“Just come on.”

Lena stands and Kara picks up all of their things, setting it all down in one of the dugouts. She wheels out some sort of machine and sets it up on the pitcher’s mound before walking back to Lena.

“You might want to take your heels off.” Lena frowns as Kara continues setting up and she tosses her heels off to the side. Kara returns with a couple of bats and a basket full of baseballs. She pours the bucket into the machine, walking back toward Lena with a bat in her hand. “Here, take this,” she says, holding the bat out.

“What am I supposed to do with that?” Lena says, holding the bat out in front of her like it’s a snake.

“Get in the batter’s box,” Kara laughs. “I’m going to teach you how to hit.”

Lena frowns and steps into the rectangle. She feels Kara stand behind, arms encircling around her, and placing her hands above and below Lena’s on the neck of the bat.

“Okay, you don’t want to choke up too high on the bat and you want to rotate your hips when you swing, like this.” Kara places a hand on Lena’s hips and turns them outward, but Lena’s definitely not thinking about baseball. With Kara’s lips brushing the shell of her ear as she speaks, her brain short circuits and has decided that whatever Kara’s saying isn’t important. “—got it?”

“Yeah, sure,” Lena replies. Kara laughs and walks over to turn the machine back on. She takes her place back behind Lena and they hold the bat up. The first pitch is thrown and they miss it by a mile.

“Keep your eye on the ball as it passes across the plate.”

They miss the second pitch, too.

“This is ridiculous,” Lena huffs.

“You’ll get it, watch the ball.”

“Watch the ball,” Lena mockingly mutters under her breath.

Lena swears Kara’s pushing herself into her ass, but her competitive side starts to take over and she’s absolutely going to hit one of these goddamn balls. They swing again and make contact, the ball rolling down the field past first base.

“You’re getting it!” Kara cheers. “Okay, here’s the next one.”

They swing and hit a fly ball toward shortstop. They keep swinging until the machine is depleted and Kara drops her hands to her sides.

“That was fun!”

Lena’s been holding everything back behind the cracked wall of a dam for far too long and it’s about to break. They’re both attracted to each other, that’s obvious, and Lena’s honestly tired of trying to hide it and hold it in. She’s tired of bending to everyone else’s will besides her own. She throws the bat to the ground and presses herself up against Kara, pulling her lips toward hers until they crash together like waves against rock. Kara’s arms wrap around her and holds them steady as Lena’s hands untuck Kara’s shirt and flatten against her abs. Lips climb up Lena’s throat, nipping at her jawline and she pulls Kara even closer into her.

“Take me home,” Lena whispers gruffly. Kara pulls away and looks at her.

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve made you wait long enough,” she smiles slyly. “Unless you’ve changed your mind.” So much for a friend outing.

Kara shakes her head rapidly. “No, not at all.”

Lena puts her hands on her hips expectantly. “Then shall we?” Kara scrambles, rolling the pitching machine back into its spot and staring forlornly at all of the baseballs still scattered around.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay someone extra to come clean this up before practice.”

Kara nods, picking up the basket and blanket and holding one of her hands out for Lena to take. She does and interlaces their fingers together as they walk out. They get into the car and drive to Lena’s apartment in complete silence. Kara’s gripping the steering wheel like it’s going to float away and Lena tries to stamp down her own nerves. It’s been a long time since she’s been with someone and an even longer time since she’s been someone she actually likes. She doesn’t want to mess it up or scare Kara away with her uncertainty and fear.

Everything is telling her this is a bad idea, that she should just tell Kara to drop her off and then go home. People are going to know if she gets back past curfew, or worse, if she doesn’t go back at all.

She feels a hand settle on top of hers and she looks over at Kara’s smiling face.

“We’re here,” she says. Lena swallows thickly and opens her door. They walk up to the front of the building together and Kara walks in with her. They ride the elevator up and Lena unlocks her apartment door. Kara lets out a _wow_ when she walks inside and looks around. “You _live_ here?”

“I do,” Lena says, removing her heels and holding them in her hand. “Shoes off, please.”

Kara bends down and starts untying her shoelaces, leaving them next to the door and follows behind Lena. Lights are flipped on and they make their way to the kitchen.

“Would you like a drink?” Lena offers, needing something to take the edge off.

“Um, sure. Whatever you’re having.”

Lena pulls out her bottle of scotch whiskey that her father bought her for her twenty-fourth birthday and pours out two glasses. She slides one over to Kara, who takes a sip.

“Feels a little strange drinking something that’s probably worth about as much as one player’s earnings for a game,” she says.

“I did fight for equal pay, to give you as much as the men, but I got a lot of pushback, stating that you won’t be playing as long a season, so you don’t deserve as much. It’s so contrite and aggravating.”

“You’ve done plenty for us,” Kara smiles. “We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for you.”

Lena waves off the ego boost and takes another sip of her drink. Kara takes the glass from her and puts it down on the counter. She’s about to protest, but then Kara’s in her space and her entire body gets warm. Kara’s face inches closer to hers, but she doesn’t make a final move, allowing Lena the chance to change her mind. Lena’s breaths get shallow and she’s pushing off of the counter and into Kara, digging her hands into blonde hair and ripping her ponytail free.

Kara drags her hands down Lena’s thighs and lifts her up onto the counter, arousing Lena even more with the display of strength. They kiss again, Kara holding onto Lena’s hips and Lena wrapping her arms around Kara’s neck. It’s hurried and messy, the past few months of pent-up frustration overflowing through their lips and fingertips. Lena’s mind goes absolutely blank and, for once, she isn’t thinking of the repercussions. She isn’t thinking about what will happen after. All that matters are the two of them, right in that moment.

They break apart to catch their breath and Lena watches as Kara licks her lips and waits, waits for her to give the go-ahead to continue. “Is this okay?” she asks. “We can slow down if you want.”

But no, Lena doesn’t want to slow down. If they slow down, she’ll start to think about things and she doesn’t want to think about anything. All she wants to think about is how soft Kara’s lips are – _god,_ they’re soft – and how big her hands are around her waist, how her fingers are digging into her skirt, so she gives her answer by cupping Kara’s face and pulling her back toward her. It’s more urgent, desperate. Her teeth tug on Kara’s lip, remembering how it made her react in their hotel room and this time isn’t much different. Kara’s moans and Lena takes the opportunity to lick into her mouth and roll her tongue against Kara’s. It works wonders as she feels Kara pull her closer to her, urging her to rub against her. Lena hooks her legs around Kara’s waist and holds her in place, panting as she feels lips climbing up her neck. She feels teeth graze across her skin and she lets out a throaty gasp and tightens her hands in Kara’s hair.

“You can’t mark me,” she breathes.

“Pity,” Kara says with a grin. “Want to take this somewhere more comfortable?”

Lena simply nods and before she knows it, she’s being lifted into the air and her legs tighten around Kara even harder. She’s carried through her apartment, passing a row of doors until they get to her bedroom and she’s set down on the edge of the bed. Kara untucks her shirt and starts to unbutton it while Lena stares at her hands’ movements as they move down past her breasts, allowing her to peek through.

Her mouth goes dry as she sees the outline of Kara’s breasts and her abdominal muscles. She has to sit on her hands to quell the urge to reach out and touch them. As Kara slides the shirt off her shoulders, she kneels down and starts to run her hands up her calves, tickling her skin over her pantyhose

“Can I take these off?”

Lena lets out a shaky breath and nods and Kara traces her fingers slowly up Lena’s thighs, pulling down the elastic of the first thigh-high hose and delicately peeling it off. She does the same to the other leg and Lena grips onto the bedspread tightly, both wanting Kara to hurry up and draw it out at the same time. After she’s done removing the pantyhose, Kara places a soft kiss on Lena’s ankle and drops it back onto the floor, standing up again. When she reaches for her belt, Lena halts her and pulls her hands away. Kara looks at her questioningly and Lena replaces her own hands on the belt buckle.

“May I?” she asks. Kara nods and rests one of her hands on Lena’s arms while she unbuckles the belt, unbuttoning her pants and lowering the zipper slowly. Kara visibly gulps and Lena takes the opportunity to lean in and place a feathery kiss on Kara’s stomach, causing her to shudder. A hand threads through Lena’s hair and the grip tightens just enough to feel the pull on her scalp. Kara tilts her head and brings her face closer to Lena’s, holding it an inch away and curling her lip up as Lena lets out a whimper. Finally, their lips meet and Lena loses her patience, pulling Kara on top of her and scooting back onto the center of the bed.

Kara takes her pants off and crawls toward her, lying next to her on her side, sliding her hand across the plane of her stomach and watching her with rapt reverence. Lena’s chest rises and falls with every breath and she takes Kara’s hand, bringing it up to her mouth and kissing each of her knuckles. Annoyed by the limited movement of her legs, she unzips her skirt and shimmies out of it, kicking it off the bed. They face each other and Kara strokes her cheek.

“You’re so beautiful,” she says, her eyes scanning her entire face. It makes Lena want to hide, to no feel so vulnerable in front of this woman. She’s used to revel in her privacy, in her ability to remain an enigma, but somehow, this woman beside her was able to break through every single barrier she put up and broke every single one of her rules, and Lena let her. It makes no sense. Why her? Why Kara?

The thing that confuses her most is that Lena isn’t even sure she has a reason not to let Kara in anymore. Maybe Kara was right when she told her that no one else cares, but there’s still a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that tells her if her mother finds out, or if someone like Harrison Wells finds out, she’ll be out of a job and she’s not built to be a milkmaid on a farm.

“Hey, you still with me?” Kara asks, her hand resting on Lena’s hip, her thumb circling her hipbone. Lena smiles in response and kisses Kara soundly. Kara pulls back with heavy-lidded eyes and grins. “We can stop if you want. I don’t mind just sleeping.”

Lena shakes her head and takes Kara’s hand in hers again, bringing it up to her mouth and darting her tongue out against Kara’s fingertip. Kara’s breath hitches as Lena moves to the next finger, taking that one inside of her mouth and sucking on it.

“Oh, golly,” Kara sighs. “Um. Have you, you know, done this before?”

“Had sex?” Lena asks wryly.

Kara clears her throat. “Well, I mean- I don’t-“ She sees Lena holding in a laugh and frowns. “You’re teasing me.”

“Yes, I’ve had sex with women before, Kara. Not very many, mind you, but I’m not completely inexperienced.”

“Oh.”

“Come on, Danvers. You’re not getting cold feet now, are you?” Lena quips with a raised eyebrow at Kara’s sudden quietness. That seems to whip Kara into shape and she flips them over until she’s lying on top of Lena, holding her arms above her head at the wrists. Lena squirms beneath her, but Kara bears her weight down and leans in further, kissing down her jaw to her neck.

As she slides down, Kara slips her fingers past the elastic of Lena’s panties. “Is this okay?” she asks. Lena nods in response and takes her bra off, as well, tossing it over the side of the bed. Kara pauses for a minute and her cheeks flare a deep pink as her eyes rake down Lena’s now nude body. “Gosh,” Kara breathes.

Lena smirks, pulling Kara down by her neck and their lips meet. Their kisses soft and Lena fingers tangle themselves in Kara’s hair, tugging on it, but not hard enough to be painful - just enough to let her know Lena’s still in charge. Kara’s tongue timidly licks the seam of Lena’s lips until Lena opens her mouth wider to welcome it. This moment is ruining every other moment Kara ever had or will have. Here, Lena is everything.

They kiss until their lungs give out and they have to pull away from each other. Kara rests her forehead on Lena’s, catching her breath. “Wow,” she says with a laugh. “Never kissed anyone like that before.”

“Oh?” Lena replies, raising an eyebrow. “I’m sure there are plenty of things we’re about to do that you’ve never done before.” She tries to shift her weight and throw Kara off of her, but the blonde won’t budge. 

“You can’t control everything all the time, Lena,” she says lowly.

“Prove it,” Lena challenges and Kara grins widely, sitting up.

“Okay, grab onto the headboard. If you move your hands, I won’t let you orgasm. I’ll just bring you closer and closer to the edge and not push you over. I’ll do it for hours until you beg me for release.”

Lena sighs shakily, assuming Kara was capable of being serious in bed, but not quite expecting _this_. It was definitely a turn-on and she could feel herself soaking the sheets under her. She swallows and nods, gripping the headboard until her knuckles turn white and Kara gives her a satisfied smile.

“Good girl,” she says and a chill runs down to Lena’s toes. Kara settles down between Lena’s legs, lifting them over her shoulders and wrapping her hands around them. She kisses the insides of her thighs and smiles when Lena starts to writhe. When lips reach her mound, Lena’s nails scratch against the wood of the headboard and she screws her eyes shut in concentration, willing herself not to let go and pull Kara’s head to where she wants her.

Instead, she tries to use her legs to being Kara closer, but she just chuckles. ”Impatient,” she says, rubbing light circles around her clit.

“Please, Kara,” Lena says desperately, her hips rotating forward to try and get more pressure where Kara’s thumb sits. Finally, a tongue traces her labia and is dragged across her opening, making Lena’s back arch high above the mattress, but she still doesn’t release her grip on the headboard. Kara’s tongue moves through her again, but this time she swirls it around her clit, firing every single nerve throughout her body.

“ _Fuck!_ Oh, fuck, yes please. Right there.”

Kara does as she’s told and brings a finger to her entrance and pauses, waiting for Lena’s consent. She’s breathing so hard that she can’t speak, but she nods vigorously instead and Kara slowly enters her, waiting every so often so that Lena can adjust. It’s been so long since Lena’s allowed someone to touch her this way and it feels like the first time, like they’re both discovering her body together, figuring out what she likes and doesn’t like.

Her first orgasm creeps up on her when Kara enters her again with two fingers and her tongue remains pressed to her clit and then Kara sucks it into her mouth and Lena is screaming to the ceiling and that’s when she releases the headboard and her hands instantly go to Kara’s head, fingers digging into her scalp as Kara helps her ride it out. 

As Lena comes back to herself, Kara climbs back up and lies down next to her, guiding their lips together and Lena can taste herself on Kara’s tongue. She moans and her hips shift forward, finding Kara’s thigh. A large hand grips her by hip and Kara brings her leg up to help with the friction and Lena’s cries become higher pitched and more frequent as she races toward her second orgasm.

“Oh god, I’m going to—yes, yes, _yes!_ ” Kara swallows the rest of her screams with a kiss and holds Lena’s quivering body as she comes, her breaths evening out after a few minutes. “Christ almighty,” she laughs. “I didn’t even know I could do that twice.”

Kara hums and then grins mischievously. “I’d like to see how many times I can make you do it.”

Lena sits up and pushes Kara onto her back, throwing a leg over her torso until she’s straddling her. “Give me some time to recuperate and then we can continue your little experiment. I want to make you feel good, too.”

Kara smiles up at her and relaxes, letting Lena kiss her all over her face and down her neck, sucking the skin lightly enough to not leave any marks behind. She makes her way down to one of Kara’s nipples and flicks her tongue across it before sucking one into her mouth. Kara hisses and holds Lena by the back of her head as she uses her hand to rub Kara’s other nipple and pinch it between her fingers.

“Geez,” Kara says breathily. Lena laughs at her juvenile language and finds it incredibly endearing, but she really wants to see what it’ll take to make her swear. She switches off onto the other nipple, swirling her tongue around it and biting the flesh near it, knowing a bra will cover any marks she makes, but she loves knowing that she’ll still have left something on Kara.

“Lena,” Kara whispers, “touch me. Please.” Her hands are twitchy and she isn’t sure where to place them, so she grabs onto the sheets next to her thrumming body and waits tortuously long for Lena to give her what she needs.

When she finally shifts lower and settles between Kara’s legs, she looks up at the blonde, who has an arm thrown over her face.

“You okay?” Lena asks, sitting up and resting her hands on Kara’s knees.

“Yeah, yep. I’m good. Great, actually.”

“You wanna look at me?”

Kara slowly moves her arm and glances down at Lena, who’s rubbing the rough skin of her knees soothingly. “There you are. Hi.”

“Hi,” Kara answers. “I’m sorry. I’m fine, really. It’s just been a while. There aren’t many women like me and Alex in Midvale and it’s not like I had a lot of time to look around with the farm and all.”

Lena crawls back up Kara’s body until she’s hovering just above her face. “Hey, it’s okay. We can go as slow as you want. “Is it okay if I kiss you?”

Kara nods and Lena smiles gently, leaning in to press their lips together. She waits for Kara to start moving and getting more comfortable, and before she knows it, their mouths are open and Kara’s tongue is pressing into hers. Lena breaks their kiss and peppers more all down Kara’s body until she’s back where she started. She pauses when her hands stop at the elastic of Kara’s boxers and waits for a signal. Kara nods and lifts her hips, so Lena can remove them and she almost forgets what she was doing once Kara’s lying naked in front of her.

“Jesus. Does everyone in Midvale look like this?”

“I don’t know. Want me to ask Alex to come over and you can compare?”

Lena laughs and slaps Kara’s thigh before settling on her stomach again. With a quick flick of her tongue, she moves it through Kara’s slit up to her clit. The ballplayer hisses through her teeth and turns her head into the pillow. Lena repeats the movement, but this time she swirls her tongue around the bud and sucks it into her mouth.

“Oh, lord,” Kara gasps, her hips bucking up suddenly. Lena brings an arm across them to keep them steady while she continues to tease Kara’s entrance and she brings a single finger up to it.

“Are you ready?”

Kara makes an affirmative sound in the back of her throat and takes a deep breath as Lena pushes inside slowly.

“Is it feeling okay?” Lena’s somewhat unnerved that Kara isn’t making any noise and has covered her face with her arm again. When she doesn’t reply, Lena pulls her finger out and climbs back up to lie next to Kara. “What’s going on?”

“Shit, I’m sorry, Lena. I thought I’d gotten over it, but penetration just isn’t my thing.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Lena admonishes her. She feels guilty and dumb for doing something Kara doesn’t enjoy, and frustrated that Kara didn’t say anything about it.

“Everything was feeling good. I thought that might, too, but it’s still uncomfortable for me.”

Lena lies on her back and looks up at the cream colored ceiling and the ordinary light fixture in the middle.

“Hey, why are you upset?” Kara asks, sitting up on her side, facing Lena.

“You should have told me instead of letting me continue doing something you don’t like. I feel foolish.”

“You don’t—no, you’re right, I’m sorry. I should have said something. I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings, but I guess I did that, anyway.” She cups Lena’s cheek and turns her face toward her. “I’m sorry, okay?”

“Maybe we should continue this another night. You have practice in the morning and I have meetings.” She sits up and makes a sorry attempt at finding her clothes. Kara climbs off of the bed and stands in front of her.

“Hey, come on. We can just sleep.”

“You should be heading back. The girls will be wondering where you are.” She’s running again and she knows it. One minor inconvenience happened and she’s pushing Kara out the door. She’s even considering giving the team away and moving back to Metropolis. Her mother would love that, she’d never hear the end of it.

“Lena, can you stop for a minute? If this is about tonight, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I messed up. Can we just talk about it?”

“What is there to talk about, Kara?” Lena snaps. “You either don’t trust me enough to ask me for what you want, or you think I’m so fragile that you can’t be honest with me? Which is it?”

Kara sighs and her arms hang at her sides. “Neither. Things were just going so well, and I didn’t want to mess things up just because my body works differently. I didn’t want to scare you off.”

Lena rubs her tired eyes and lets out a breath. “You have to talk to me. If this is going to work, we need to communicate. Kara nods and takes one of Lena’s hands in her own.

“I’ll communicate better, I promise.”

A shadow of a smirk forms across Lena’s lips. “Okay, good, because there are things besides penetration that we can do.”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve had a couple of examples already,” Kara replies with a smile. She leads them both back to the bed and the get underneath the covers. When Kara let’s put a big yawn, Lena laughs.

“Maybe we should try again another time. My ego is bruised enough, I don’t need you falling asleep in the middle of it, too.”

“No, no, I’m okay! I’m awake,” Kara protests, but Lena can see her eyes drooping and brushes some hair out of her face.

“No, you need your rest for practice.”

“Can I stay here?” Kara asks sleepily.

“If that’s what you want,” replies Lena. Kara pulls her into her side and wraps both arms around her. “Where do the girls think you are?”

“I told them I was meeting up with an old friend from school.”

Lena’s flight instinct kicks in and she can’t help but panic. “You know we can’t tell anyone about this, right?” Lena says, staring up at the ceiling.

“I know,” Kara replies, her voice heavy with tiredness. “I’m not under some illusion that this is anything more than it is, and I’m committed to keeping your reputation intact. No one will know unless you want them to.

Lena nods and settles down, letting Kara’s breaths lull her to sleep and she decides to figure out what it all means later, because for right now, she’s exactly where she wants to be.

* * *

When the morning sun peeks through the window of the bedroom, Lena’s the first to wake up and she stretches her limbs before looking over the messy mane of blonde hair next to her. Kara’s snoring lightly and it makes Lena’s heart swell, but she gets out of bed and puts on the clothes from the night before. She knows she’s going to have to shower and get ready for work, but she walks into the kitchen to start some coffee before she does. She calls her driver to have him come pick her up in a half hour to take her to the office.

Padding back into the bedroom, she sits on the edge and sets down a cup of coffee on the nightstand before running her hand through Kara’s hair. The blonde groans and pushes her face further into her pillow.

“Kara, you need to get up,” Lena says softly.

“Nuh-uh,” Kara grumbles, searching for her blindly.

“I need to get ready for work and you need to get back and get ready for practice.”

Kara opens her eyes finally and a smile spreads across her face. “You’re really pretty in the morning.”

Lena scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Drink your coffee and don’t be late. I’ll see you later.”

By the time she leaves the apartment, her driver is waiting for her at the curb. She’s glad she pays for his discretion as well as his driving, so he won’t ask questions about why there’s a strange car in front of the building that he’s never seen before. They pull up in front of L-Corp and she strolls into the building with her bag hanging over her arm and sunglasses that cover half her face and Jess gives her a grave look as she walks up.

“What is it? You look like your cat just died.”

“Mr. Edge is here. He’s waiting in the conference room.” Lena sets her jaw and raises her chin before pushing through the doors of the conference room.

“Mr. Edge, what a lovely surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Morgan Edge, manager of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, stood and offered his hand. Lena took it and gave a firm handshake. “Miss Luthor, as you know, ticket sales have been dwindling the second half of the season.”

“It’s only been one game,” Lena counters.

“Even so, we’ve been selling significantly less tickets as the season goes on and I worry that by the time we get to the championship, no one will be in attendance.”

“Yes, we’ve been working on a solution for the low ticket sales, and—“

“And it hasn’t been working. Listen, Lena, I know you’re a smart businesswoman, and you’ll do whatever it takes to save this league and the women playing for it. I think we need to shake things up a bit, get people to want to come to games, and I don’t mean free merchandise. No one cares about free Luthor bars.”

Lena clenches her jaw and gives Morgan a sharp look. “So, what do you suggest?”

“A trade.”

Lena blinks in mild confusion. “A trade?”

“Yes. Split the sisters up, create a rivalry between two teams.”

A scoff escapes Lena’s throat. “I am not trading one of my best players when we have just less than half a season to go.”

“We’ll make sure the trade is fair, don’t worry,” Morgan assures her.

“Why the Danvers? What about the Lane sisters from Metropolis?”

“They simply just don’t have the fanbase as two nobodies from Midvale who rose up in the ranks. Everyone loves a good underdog story.”

“It’s not happening, Edge. You can go back and tell all of your deep-pocketed friends that they need to shell out more money if that’s what you’re so afraid of. My team is off-limits.”

“That’s too bad,” Morgan says, standing up from his seat. “I was hoping you’d agree, so I didn’t have to do this.” He pulls out an envelope from his jacket and hands it to Lena. “I’ll give you a few days to think about it. I’ll expect a call to my office very soon.” He walks out and Lena waits for him to be out of sight before she opens the envelope.

Inside are photographs - candid ones - of her and Kara. They aren’t doing anything obviously romantic, but to anyone who’s looking for a reason to oust her, they could make a pretty compelling case with them. Her throat becomes dry and she slides the photos back into the envelope before walking into her office and locking them inside of her desk drawer. Jess walks in and asks if she needs anything.

“Get Bruce Wayne on the phone."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The world is falling apart, so here's an update.
> 
> I also just want to say in lieu of some fandom things happening, that if you're being harassed or abused by anyone, please don't be afraid to speak out. Tell a friend or family member, tell a therapist, tell someone you trust. Here are some phone numbers, as well. You aren't alone.
> 
> National Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1-800-799-7233  
> National Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-422-4453  
> The Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386  
> National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
> 
> Apologies for not having any phone numbers outside of the U.S.

Lena fully intended on meeting with Kara before their next game, but she got busy and by the time she was free, everyone was getting ready for their next home game with Star City. Not wanting to distract any players, Lena holds off on their meeting and decides she’ll talk to her after the game. She sits in the stands behind the dugout with Jess and she tries to relax.

“Were you able to talk to Miss Danvers, ma’am?” Jess asks.

“Not yet, going to wait until after the game, don’t want them to be distracted.”

“That’s a good idea.”

The teams get introduced and when Kara runs out, she gives a wink in Lena’s general direction and she does her best to not blush at the gesture. When Jack comes out of the dugout, he does his usual hat wave to the crowd and then jogs over to the team to rile them up. They take the field and Star City is up to bat first. The Argonauts get their first three outs quickly and then it’s their turn at-bat. Kelly’s their lead-off hitter and hits a single and Alex is up next. She hits a foul ball that flies back into the stands, right at Lena and Jess. Everyone ducks their heads, but Lena reaches out and catches the ball that’s about to hit Jess with her bare hand. A hush lands across the stands as everyone stares at Lena, who’s surprised at herself, but she smiles coolly and tosses it back down onto the field, right into Felicity’s mitt.

Kara’s standing near the dugout, looking at Lena with a strange look on her face and Lena winks at her as payback. The ballplayer’s ears turn beet red and she turns around, pretending to take a few practice swings before her at-bat.

The next few innings go by quickly, National City taking an early three-to-one lead and the rest of the game goes about the same, Star City unable to catch up with the Argonauts. The teams congratulate each other and then head back into their locker rooms, but Lena notices a military vehicle parking in front of the field as she’s making her way down. Two uniformed men march inside and toward the home team locker rooms. Lena gives Jess a look and they hurry in after them. Half the team is undressing and the other half are just talking off to the side excitedly. Once the soldiers walk inside, the women cover themselves and quiet down. They all know what this means. Army only shows up like this if someone’s been killed in action.

Jack steps forward as one of the soldiers pulls out a paper slip from his pocket. “We regret to inform you that—”

“Give it to me,” Jack interrupts him.

“Sir, I need to announce it.”

“Just give it to me,” Jack repeats, snatching the paper out of his hand and pushing both men out the door. Lena knows he doesn’t want a couple of strangers to tell one of his players their husband is dead in the most informal way possible. His eyes scan across the words and he paces around, walking past the girls until he stops in front of Sam.

“I’m sorry, Samantha,” he says, handing her the paper.

“Oh. Oh god, George,” Sam cries and pulls Ruby to her chest. Everyone hugs her and tries their best to comfort her as she sobs and Lena takes a shaky breath before stepping outside. She starts walking down the corridor when she hears her name called and Kara runs up to her.

“Hey, Coach, you okay?”

“I-I can’t talk to you right now,” Lena says, feeling her chest tighten. She can’t even look at Kara, doesn’t want to see the confusion in those blue eyes as she keeps walking.

“Lena!” Kara yells after her, but she doesn’t stop and doesn’t turn back.

She has her driver take her back to L-Corp and she locks herself in her office, pouring out a drink and downing the entire thing in one gulp before pouring a second. After she feels a buzz swirling around in her head, she picks up the phone and dials a number.

“This is Edge.”

“It’s done,” Lena slurs.

“Lena,” Morgan’s sleezy voice drawls. “You’re calling sooner than I expected.”

“I want all of the negatives,” Lena answers, ignoring the smug sound coming from the receiver.

“I’ll have my secretary mail them to you in the morning. Nice doing business with you, Luthor.” Lena slams the phone down and she rubs her eyes. She’s just ruined every good thing in her life in two minutes. That’s a record even for her. She doesn’t even bother going home that night, opting to sleep on the couch in her office instead. If she goes home, all she’ll be reminded of is Kara and their night together. She’ll be reminded of the fleeting happiness that she was unable to hold onto like always.

Jack and Eve call for an emergency meeting in the morning, to see what to do in the meantime while Sam is out for bereavement leave. Lena attempts to clean herself up in her office bathroom before going to the conference room, seeing Jack and Eve already there.

“Weren’t you wearing that yesterday?” Jack observes.

“No. So, what’s the plan now?”

“Kara has a rocket for an arm, and I think—”

“Not her. Who else?”

Eve flips through the roster. “Um, what about Nia? She tried out as a baseman. We can shuffle someone else around. It’s too late to draft someone else.”

“I’ve traded for someone,” Lena blurts out. Jack and Eve look at her blankly.

“Traded whom?” Jack asks carefully.

“You two don’t need to worry about it, I’ve already taken care of it,” Lena says, moving some papers around mindlessly. Jack slaps his hand down onto hers and glares at her.

“Lena, who did you trade?”

“Kara Danvers,” Lena says and swallows.

“ _What_?” Jack exclaims, standing up and throwing his chair back. “Are you out of your mind? You traded our best player in the middle of the season? If this is some lovers’ quarrel, get over it and un-trade her.”

“It’s too late, I’ve already signed the paperwork and sent it to Bruce Wayne.”

Jack squares his jaw and storms out of the room and Eve follows shortly after. Lena exhales deeply and closes her eyes. She knew this would happen. She knew she’d become as hated as her father – all in the name of self-preservation.

As it nears the end of the day, Lena’s packing up and getting ready to go home and take a long bath when her door swings wide open and a red-faced Kara Danvers is standing in the middle of her office.

“Miss Danvers,” Lena greets her casually.

“Lena, what the fuck are you doing?”

“Do _not_ use that language with me,” Lena warns.

“Then explain to me why you traded me to Gotham. I _told_ you I won’t tell anyone if you don’t want me to. At least let me finish this season here. We’ve worked so hard for this. I won’t even speak to you for the rest of the season. Please, Lena.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Danvers, but the paperwork has already been signed and returned. You’ll play your next game with the Black Hawks.” She tries to walk around Kara, but her way is blocked.

“ _Lena_. At least look me in the eye and tell me it’s not personal, that this is a business decision only.”

“I don’t have time for this,” Lena says, trying to push her way through.

“Do you even care about me?” Kara asks quietly.

Lena pauses in the doorway. “I wish I didn’t,” she replies without looking back and leaves the office. She bites the inside of her cheek while walking to the elevator to keep a single tear from falling and once she makes it inside, she bends over and lets out a strangled cry. Her driver is waiting for her in the parking garage and takes her home. Her shoes get left in a pile with her bag near the door as she walks to her bathroom to start a bath. All she wants to do is shut her brain off, but even bogging her thoughts down with alcohol won’t stop her thoughts from always going back to Kara, the way she smiled at Lena after they’d slept together, the warmth that radiated from her body as they lay next to each other.

She submerges her head underwater to try and drown everything out, the dulled sounds of her house echoing in her ears. Would Lex have done any better as the team’s manager? Would he have gotten into this big of a mess? Her brother was a useless layabout, for sure, but he at least knew not to shit where he eats. He likely would have just slept with some escorts or had one-night stands with strangers from a bar, not another player. God, what will her mother think? Once again, Lena has just given Lillian more fodder to show that she’s not capable of running a company, let alone a sports team. After her fingers are nice and pruned, Lena drains the bath water and climbs out of the tub, putting on comfortable pajamas and getting into bed. She doesn’t sleep, though, because she knows she’s going to have at least three fires to put out in the morning, once word gets out that Kara’s been traded. There’s nothing that’s going to prepare her for the fallout of her actions.

* * *

“I want a trade to Gotham.”

“I am not trading you to Gotham, Miss Danvers,” Lena says signing off on a proposal without looking up from her office desk.

“Then I quit. I told you from the start that I was only here for Kara and you trade her to another team? You’ve got some nerve, lady. And imagine my surprise when this was slipped inside of my locker.” She throws down a folder on the desk and Lena takes it and opens it. Inside are newspaper clippings and other documents regarding the warehouse fire that Alex and Kara’s father was caught in. There’s evidence of Lionel’s cut corners and overlooking safety standards. Edge must be trying to rub salt in the wound. Lena takes a calculated breath and closes the folder, placing both hands on the desk.

“Are you going to tell her?” she asks with her voice unwavering, practiced to remain calm under stress.

“Of course I am, but knowing her, you could have lit that fire yourself and she’d still think the world of you. That’s just who she is.”

Lena looks up with her jaw clenched, wishing she could explain to Kara’s sister that everything she did, she did it for both of their sakes, that if Edge exposed them, they’d both be out of jobs and she’d be homeless. “She really cared about you, you know,” Alex says with slightly less vitriol in her voice. “Hadn’t seen her that happy in quite a while. I’ll be back to discuss terminating my contract later.”

Alex leaves Lena alone in her office and she covers her face with her hands. She’s lost two of her best players now and while she is getting one player back from Gotham, she’s not sure it’ll be enough to get them to the World Series. The whole point to all of this was to create a rivalry between the sisters by having them on two separate teams, but now Alex is quitting, Jack isn’t speaking to her, and she doesn’t know what to do.

She makes a phone call and waits for the other line to answer.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Lex.”

“ _Lena, it’s been a while. Glad to see the team is doing well_ ,” Lex says cheerfully.

“Yes, it was nice while it lasted,” Lena replies, rubbing her forehead.”

“ _Uh-oh, what happened? Don’t tell me you fell in love with one of the players_.” Lena’s silence tells Lex all he needs to know, and he sighs. “ _Shit, you did. Which one? Danvers?_ ”

“I was stupid and lonely,” Lena lets out a deep breath. “She was nice to me, gave me attention. I tried to resist for as long as I could, but one moment of weakness and I fucked everything. I tried to make it all go away by trading her to Gotham and now her sister wants to quit. Once the team finds out, none of them will ever trust me again.”

“ _Well, I certainly don’t envy you. I know if I had overseen the team, they wouldn’t even be in the running for the pennant. Up until now, you’ve run a very successful ball club. You should be proud of that, at least. So what if you caught feelings for someone? It happens. But you can’t run from them. I’m not sure I really have any other words of wisdom for you. Does Mom know?_ ”

“Of course not,” Lena scoffs. “She’d already be re-writing the will to cut me out of it if she did.”

“ _Listen, you’ve got, what, four more regular season games to go? You’re guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, anyway, so just work at getting your team back together. Most of them just want to play ball, they’ll ignore the politics and drama._ ”

“I hope you’re right, because if you aren’t, this entire season is lost and I’m likely out of a job. I’ll have to come live with you.”

“ _Oh, the horror_ ,” Lex teases. “ _It’ll be okay. And, hey, do you really care about this girl?_ ”

“What does that matter?”

“ _Because money is money. You either have it or you don’t, and it’s not something that should be a barrier between you and your happiness. Love – as in, real love – that’s hard to come by_.”

“When did you become so sentimental? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

Lex chuckles. “ _All I’m saying is that if you’re worried about our inheritance, don’t be. I’ve got enough saved up, invested in things, I’ll be fine. And I’ll help you in any way I can – financially or otherwise, if you need it_.”

Lena lets out a sigh. “Chances are she’ll never speak to me again, so what’s the point? I’ve ruined everything.”

“ _Give it time. I hear it heals wounds_.”

Lena snorts. “You haven’t been in a relationship lately, have you? Things don’t work like that, so your cookie-cutter idioms and sayings aren’t going to magically fix things.”

Lex chuckles. “ _I tried. Seriously, though, if she cares about you, she’ll come back. All you need to do is show her that you care, too_.”

“How?” Lena asks.

“ _I have no idea. I haven’t had any meaningful relationships, remember?_ ” Lex snarks. “ _You’ll figure it out, you always do_.”

Just as she hangs up, Jess pops her head in. “Miss Luthor, just wanted to let you know that Alice from Gotham has signed her contract and she’s on a plane to National City. She’s agreed to pitch, so I’ll set her up with Eve once she gets here.”

“Thank you, Jess,” Lena replies. At least one of her employees is still doing what she asks without questioning her. She stays at her office until the last possible second before packing up and heading home. The idea of being in her apartment alone is not exactly one she’s keen on, so when she walks up and sees Jack waiting in front of it, she almost feels relief, even if he’s there to reprimand her again. He holds up a bottle of pinot as an olive branch and she lets him in.

Lena changes into more comfortable clothing while Jack uncorks the bottle and pours them a couple of glasses before sitting down on the couch.

“Why are you sabotaging yourself?” Jack asks her.

“Pardon?” Lena frowns.

“You and Kara. Something spooked you, so now you’re sending her away. I know you and I know you like to win, so the only reason you’d jeopardize the team’s chances of winning is if something happened.”

“Morgan Edge happened,” Lena grumbles. “He’s had us followed for months, took photos of Kara and I together, threatened to expose us unless I did what he said.”

“That son-of-a-bitch,” Jack spits and slams his hand on the arm of the couch. “We gotta do something.”

“What would you have me do, Jack? I’ve already traded Kara, Alex is quitting, Sam is gone. Our team is in shambles and it’s my fault.” She feels a tear track down her cheek and she swipes it away angrily. “I knew I should have stayed away from Kara, but I couldn’t help myself. I was lonely and stupid and I let her get too close to me.”

“We can’t let him win.”

Lena shakes her head. “It’s too late. I can’t trade Kara back. Best we can do is finish out this season without the Danvers and hope the rest of the team doesn’t quit by the World Series.”

“I’ll talk to the girls at practice. Most of them don’t want to go back to their old lives back at the factories and the bars. For a lot of them, this is the best thing that’s happened to them, so most of them will stay. I spoke to Sam and she wants to come back after taking care of her family, but she says she’d like to be here for playoffs.”

“Well, at least there’s that.”

* * *

The next couple of games go by in a blur, Lena spends both of them hiding in her office, but still listening on the radio. The Argonauts scrape by with two more wins against Metropolis and Freeland, and Alice seems to be acclimating to her new team pretty easily, throwing a few no-hitter innings. Thankfully, the rest of the team appears to have fallen back in line without both Danvers sisters there, which Lena is grateful for. She knows it can’t be easy for them to lose two of their teammates in the middle of the season.

Lena also secretly keeps tabs on the Gotham Black Hawks to see how Kara’s doing and she’s doing well on her new team. There’s a photo of her and Kate in the newspaper and it makes Lena’s chest ache with a pain she hasn’t felt in quite some time. She grabs her scissors and cuts it out, hiding it in a book in her desk when she sees something she hasn’t noticed before – a stuffed elephant. Kara must have snuck it in there, or had Jess put it there. She pulls it out and holds it close to her chest, taking a deep breath and willing herself not to cry alone in her office. There still needs to be some semblance of dignity.

A knock on her door startles Lena and she shoves the elephant back into her desk before Jess pokes her head in.

“Sorry, Miss Luthor, but your mother is here.”

Lena sighs deeply and tells Jess to let her in. Lillian strolls inside with her chin lifted, trying to show off to no one in particular.

“What can I do for you, Mother?”

“I didn’t think you had it in you, but you got rid of both Danvers sisters. I’m impressed.” She sits down across from her daughter and pulls off her gloves, one finger at a time. “While it would have been more entertaining to have a sibling rivalry, this works out just as well and we don’t need to worry about them anymore.”

Lena grates her teeth together and wonders how much of a scene her mother would cause if she threw her out of the building.

“We didn’t need to worry about them in the first place,” Lena settles on as a response.

“No? Then why did you trade away your best player in the middle of the season? Don’t tell me she got under your skin, or perhaps something even more unsavory.”

“It doesn’t matter. She’s gone and you don’t need to worry about soiling the good Luthor name. We have Lex for that.”

“Oh, speaking of which, your brother will be coming back in the fall to take over the company. I’ve already spoken to him and we’ll sign it over to him when he gets here.”

“Excuse me?” Lena hisses. “I will most certainly not sign over the company to him. I’ve worked my ass off to get it where it is now. This is _my_ company, _my_ work. Lex has done nothing but drink Manhattans for the past six months. I was the one who got our stocks back up, developed all of these overseas programs for our troops.”

“Yes, and I appreciate all that you’ve done, but now you can go back to doing what you do best: showing your pretty face whenever we need to convince more investors to take on our projects.” Lillian’s smile is fake and Lena knows that no matter what she says, her mother will always take Lex’s side and she’s just lost the one thing that was keeping her and Kara apart. It was all for nothing.

She watches her mother walk out of her office and resists the urge to throw her coffee mug at a wall. Her mother always manages to bring the worst out in her and now that Lena’s lost everything, she doesn’t see the point in keeping up appearances. So, when National City’s next home game is against Ivy Town, she shows up at the stadium, sitting next to a surprised Jess and catching the eye of a confused Jack.

“Welcome back,” he says as he tips his hat from the dugout. Lena gives him a nod back and watches her team – well, her team for now – warm up. Most of them give her a wave or a tip of their hat and she smiles back at each of them.

“How has Leslie been as catcher?” Lena asks Jess.

“Well, she can catch Alice’s pitches. She’s definitely no Alex Danvers, though.” Jess clears her throat. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“It’s fine, this was ultimately my doing, so it will be my downfall. I just wish it didn’t affect all the other girls at the same time.”

“For what it’s worth, Miss Luthor, I really liked Kara, too.”

Lena stares straight ahead and nods. She’s grateful that the next game is in Gotham, so Lena has an excuse not to make the trip there. She hasn’t told anyone else about her stepping down as CEO once her brother gets back, but she’s quietly started all of the paperwork. Realistically, she knows Lex would give her any job she wanted within the company, but she can’t in good conscience stay with a company that’s come between her and so many other things in her life, things that would have finally made her happy. She knows it’s too late for her and Kara and even if Lena decided that her career isn’t worth her happiness, the damage has already been done. Kara’s gone and Lena’s not sure she’ll ever speak to her again.

When the team gets back, Jack pays her a visit with another bottle of alcohol for them to share and plops down on her couch.

“Danvers looked good out there,” he says.

“I didn’t ask, Jack.”

“I’m just saying,” he holds his hands up. “Looked like something was missing, though. Her eyes didn’t twinkle as brightly.”

Lena rolls her own eyes and takes a sip of her drink. “You almost lost the game at the end, I hear.”

“Christ, yeah. Siobhan had another error and missed a throw to first, so that brought two runs in to tie. Thankfully, Lucy’s a monster at the plate and she was able to score us a run. You should be proud of me, though.”

“Why’s that?” Lena asks, mindlessly swirling the alcohol in her glass.

“I didn’t yell at Siobhan this time. There wasn’t any crying.”

No crying for Siobhan, but Lena couldn’t say the same about herself. The playoff brackets were set with National City playing another game against Metropolis, while Gotham plays against Ivy Town. To make travel easier on all four teams, National City offered to host the playoffs and the World Series, so teams could stay within the city limits if they were so inclined. It gave the teams a chance to get to know each other better as they all went out in groups for meals and dancing. The Argonauts meet up with Kara and catch up with one another while Lena strategically holes herself away in her office, working on the company handover. Jack attempts to talk her into going out, but she declines, stating she has way too much work to do.

“If this is because of Kara—”

“It’s not,” Lena clips him off.

“We can go to a different bar.”

Lena looks up and the glare she gives Jack chills him to the bone. “Jack, I do not want to go out, so stop asking me to. Go, have fun, get drunk.”

Jack sighs. “Okay, well, I’ll be at O’Malley’s if you change your mind.”

“Don’t wait up,” Lena mumbles as Jack gives her a crooked smile and leaves the office. Lena tries to go back to her paperwork, but her mind is scattered and she can’t concentrate on anything. She throws her pen down onto her desk and leans back in her chair. Everything is telling her not to go out. Kara could be there and then what? She’ll have to run away with her tail between her legs and act like she walked into the wrong building.

When she arrives at the bar, she pulls up the collar of her coat to hide her face, even though it’s way too warm to be wearing one and she looks around. No one appears to recognize her, so she slowly opens the door and all of the noise from inside attacks her senses. Looking around quickly, she searches for Jack or anyone she recognizes, but doesn’t see anyone until she finds two blondes sitting at the bar. She walks up to Sara and Ava and nods a greeting at them.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Sara smirks and gives Lena a wink. “Kara’s not here, think she went to another bar with the Gotham girls.”

“I’m not here for her,” Lena replies.

Sara leans back and examines Lena for a minute. “I’m guessing it didn’t work out?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Pull up a stool,” Ava offers and tries to flag down the bartender. “What’ll you have?”

“Martini,” Lena answers and she sits down in one of the free stools next to Sara. Her drink gets made quickly and she drinks it down.

“So, what happened?” Sara asks.

Lena explains what happened between her and Kara, how Morgan Edge was involved, and how she’s losing the company to her brother. She tells them that she regrets ever starting something with Kara and knew it would blow up in her face.

“Something tells me it’s not really going to matter what I say to you, you’re going to keep blaming yourself and say Kara’s probably better off,” Sara surmises, taking a drink. “But the truth of the matter is, something happened between the two of you, something neither one of you were particularly against, and you got scared. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but the one thing that was standing in the way of the two of you is out of the picture, so I don’t see why things can’t go back to the way they were.”

“Because,” Lena huffs, “I traded Kara. She’s rightfully angry at me and probably doesn’t want to ever see or speak to me again. How am I supposed to get back into her good graces? I don’t even know where her sister is and I’m sure she hates me, too.”

Sara and Ava look at each other and try to find something comforting to say to Lena, who’s drowning herself in alcohol, tapping on the bar to get the bartender’s attention again.

“Maybe we could talk to Kara for you,” Ava offers.

“No. Absolutely not,” Lena shakes her head. “First off, she can’t know I’m falling apart. I’m Lena Luthor for Christ’s sake. I saved my family’s company _on my own_. I don’t wallow in self-pity. Secondly,” she says, wobbling a bit on her stool, “Kara is too good and I am… not. I’m selfish and hardheaded and stubborn and she deserves someone who will treat her well and not treat her like a commodity.” She finishes her fourth drink and slams the glass back onto the counter. “Bartender, another!”

“Okay, I think you’ve had enough,” Sara says, tugging Lena’s arm down. “Let’s get you home.”

Both Sara and Ava grab one of Lena’s arms and put it around their shoulders, helping her out of the bar when a new group of people walk in just as they’re about to leave. It’s the Black Hawks team with a few Argonauts mixed in, seemingly bar hopping. They stop when they see the other three and Kara’s brows knit together when she sees them.

“Excuse us, ladies,” Sara says nonchalantly. “Never knew an Irishwoman who couldn’t hold her liquor, but I guess I’ve found one.”

“Is she okay?” Kara asks.

“I’m right here,” Lena grumbles, her head lolling to the side. “And I’m fine.”

“Oh, there you are,” Jack exclaims, walking up to everyone. “Well, looks like someone had a little too much fun. I can take it from here, ladies.”

“Are you sure?” Ava asks.

“Yeah, yeah. I was just about to call it a night, anyway. You stay and mingle.” He takes one of Lena’s arms and puts it over his shoulder, hoisting her up. “Don’t forget practice on Monday, Argonauts,” he calls out before dragging Lena out the door. Kara looks back at them forlornly, but someone drags her by the elbow further into the bar.

“Give Gotham hell, Ivy Town!” Lena yells as she’s pulled through the door.

“Jesus, Lena, how much did you have to drink?” Jack asks.

“Not enough,” replies Lena. “Did you see her?”

“Yeah, I saw her. She looked concerned.”

Lena scoffs. “That wasn’t concern. That was pity.”

“Well, whatever it was, she didn’t look happy.” Jack stops at the curb and hails a taxi. When one pulls up, he slides Lena inside and climbs in after, giving the driver the address to Lena’s apartment. When they arrive, Jack escorts Lena inside and digs through her pockets for her keys before unlocking the door. He sets her down on the bed and starts removing her shoes.

“I fucked everything up, didn’t I,” Lena sighs and sniffles, feeling the tears pool at the corners of her eyes.

“No, you did what you thought was right. You always do. But sometimes what you think is best doesn’t always mean it’s best for everyone,” Jack answers, covering Lena with a blanket. “You decided what was best for Kara and didn’t let her decide on her own. Want me to stay tonight?”

Lena nods and Jack climbs into bed, holding Lena while she silently cries into the pillow. Jack’s the only person Lena’s allowed to see her cry, because she’s also seen him at his lowest. It’s something that’s connected them in a way no one else would be able to understand. She feels the warmth on her back, wishing it was Kara, knowing that it would likely never be her again. The thing that upsets her most is that she was able to drag her family’s company back into success, create a women’s baseball team from the dregs her father left it in, and yet, she isn’t able to make any lasting relationships work, because she’s scared of what comes with that success. She’s used to being alone, doing things herself. She’s never been used to sharing her life or her space with anyone else, or having someone else want to share it with her. And now, she’s terrified that she’ll never find someone who would want to ever again, that she’s destined to be alone.

The fear of being perceived a certain way by her family and her peers has always been her Achilles heel and when it no longer matters, when she doesn’t have a company to hide behind or a brother’s inheritance to worry about, she’s left with no more excuses. She thought that by trading Kara to another team, by doing whatever Morgan Edge wanted, she was saving Kara and herself from public humiliation, as well as saving Kara from the inevitable heartbreak that Lena would almost certainly cause. It would be better to end things sooner rather than later, before Kara got too invested and attached. A clean break was what Lena was hoping for, but with the playoffs and World Series still happening, she knew it was anything but clean. 


	8. Chapter 8

Lena wakes up with her mouth feeling like she swallowed ten cotton balls the night before. She feels too warm and realizes someone is in bed with her. She turns her head and sees a familiar head of short, black hair and an arm wrapped around her midsection. Peeling the arm off of herself, she slides out from the bed and makes her way to the bathroom as quietly as she can. Her head is pounding, so she takes some aspirin, hoping it works its magic quickly. Most of the night before is a giant blur, but she does remember talking with Sara and Ava about Kara. Around her third drink is when everything gets a little hazy.

She walks into her kitchen to start a pot of coffee and, hopefully, get Jack out of her apartment as soon as possible. The last thing she needs is her friend making fun of her for any embarrassing things she may have said or done. And then she remembers.

Kara.

She’d seen Kara at the bar while she was inebriated. Leaning on the kitchen counter with her head in her hands, she lets out a deep groan.

“Feeling that good, huh?” Jack says from the doorway.

“Never let me drink that much ever again.”

Jack leans on the counter. “I didn’t let you do anything, darling. You didn’t come find me all night, so I had no idea you were even there, spilling your guts to those Ivy Town players.”

“Jesus,” Lena sighs. “I don’t know what happened. I guess I felt like they might know how I felt, since they’re…” she trails off.

“Like you?” Jack finishes for her. “Look, I get it. You had something in common and you wanted their advice. I’m not exactly the model for perfect relationships, but I am your friend. I just want you to be happy, too, you know.”

“I know,” Lena squeezes Jack’s arm before grabbing a couple of mugs from her cabinet. She pours them each a cup and Jack helps himself to creamer.

“On the bright side, season’s almost over. Then you can get back to your regular job of saving the world from itself.”

Lena remembers that she hasn’t told Jack about Lex taking over yet, but she’s not sure she should say anything just yet. She feels guilty enough for not talking to him about things going on with her when he’s been so open about everything, so she figures it won’t hurt.

“About that, I’m no longer CEO of L-Corp.”

“You- what?”

“Lex is coming back.”

Jack stands there speechless for a moment. “Let me guess, this is your mother’s doing?”

Lena watches the steam rise from her coffee and nods. “Apparently, I’m not fit to run a business, because of my breasts.” When Jack raises and eyebrow, Lena rolls her eyes. “Meaning I’m a woman. All I’m good for is showing my face and cleavage at company parties when we need to butter up the investors.”

Jack breathes out a harsh scoff. “That’s a bunch of baloney and you know it. Who’s the one who got us this team? Who rebuilt an entire company? You did.”

Lena shrugs her shoulders. “That’s not enough, I guess.”

“No, this isn’t right. This isn’t the Lena Luthor I know. You’d never just lie down and take it, you’re a fighter.”

Lena braces her hands on the counter. “I’m tired of fighting, Jack. I just want to live my life how I want to and not constantly be under a microscope. Can’t I have that?”

“Sure, but you know you’d get bored eventually. Do you think Lex will at least let you keep the team?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to him. Chances are, Mother won’t allow it.”

Jack takes Lena by her shoulders and turns her to face him. “Well, I’ll follow you wherever you go. They’ll have to find another coach.”

“Better make sure you win the World Series, then. Make them see what they’re missing.”

“We haven’t lost yet and I don’t plan on starting now, darling,” Jack winks.

* * *

The first playoff game comes before they know it and Jack’s had the team practicing and studying Metropolis’ gameplay for the past week. Jess had taken meticulous notes the last two times they played them and they knew their strategy inside and out. 

Lena’s taken her regular seat behind the home team dugout and Jess sits next to her. Before she can get too comfortable, Morgan Edge comes by and takes the seat on the other side of Lena.

“Good to see you ladies,” he says smarmily, popping a popcorn kernel into his mouth.

“I knew I smelled a rat,” Lena says with disgust.

“Ouch, you wound me, Lena. If National City and Gotham make it to the World Series, it should be a good game, even if it isn’t the sibling rivalry we wanted. It’ll still be a revenge game against the team who traded away their star player with no warning, which will surely bring in the fans.”

“I really do not care about your opinion, Mr. Edge. It really is a pity you couldn’t figure out a way to get what you wanted without blackmail, but I suppose not everyone has the brain capacity to think of alternative ways to do so.”

Morgan huffs and glowers in his seat just as the game is about to start and the announcers begin to introduce the away team. The players run onto the field and wave at the crowd – a crowd bigger than normal, thankfully. The league was able to promote the games and sell additional tickets with the help of local businesses offering merchandise within the stadium.

After Metropolis runs out, the announcers call out the Argonauts players and they run out one-by-one with Jack bringing up the rear. He waves his cap at the stands and smiles. When he catches Lena’s eye, he gives her a wink and she returns it with a nod.

Metropolis is up to bat first and Sam takes her place at third base, back from her bereavement leave. The next batter steps into the batter’s box and raises her bat. Leslie gives her a sign and their new pitcher, Alice, nods, readying herself for the first pitch. Alice throws and it flies over the plate for a strike. The second pitch is a hit straight to Kelly, who tags first base for one out. Jack cheers his team on from the dugout. The next few innings remain scoreless until Siobhan hits a single out to right field and that allows Maggie to score. The crowd cheers loudly and Lena finds herself clapping along with everyone else. Morgan looks bored, but he gives the Argonauts a round of applause, anyway.

Lena gets up to grab more beer when she sees a familiar face in the seats. Kate Kane is sitting a few rows up and she gives Lena a curt nod. Lena returns a tight-lipped smile as she climbs up the stairs and heads to the refreshment stands. She chats up a few different children in line, asking them about their opinion of the playoffs and who they think will win it all. Two of the fans emphatically say that the Argonauts are going to win, while another says that the Black Hawks are going to take it. Just as Lena’s about to ask if they’d like to take a tour of the stadium, one of the little girls gasps and points to something behind Lena.

“Isn’t that Kara Danvers? She’s my favorite player!”

Lena feels a chill run down her spine as she turns her head and, sure enough, Kara is walking over to them with two beers in her hands.

“Well, hey there, kids. Are you enjoying the game?”

“Yeah!” they all shout. Lena quickly walks over to the merchandise stand and grabs a few baseballs and a pen, taking it back to the group. She offers them to Kara, who looks at her questioningly.

“For autographs,” Lena explains. Kara flashes a look of realization as she puts her beers down on a small table and takes the balls and pen and starts to sign them for the kids. She hands them out individually with every child beaming up at her and running off to show their parents their new treasures, leaving Lena and Kara behind by themselves. Lena has no idea what to say to Kara; they haven’t seen each other since Lena’s embarrassing night at the bar. She wishes they could talk like they used to, when it was easy and every word wasn’t laced with hidden disdain.

“How’ve you been?” Kara asks suddenly, eyeing Lena carefully.

“Fine. You?”

Kara shrugs. “As well as can be expected, I suppose. Alex called me the other night, said she went home after you wouldn’t trade her to Gotham.”

Lena nods, reluctant to tell her what Alex said to her about Kara’s feelings. “Well, you look good – healthy, I mean.”

“You look like you haven’t slept in a week,” Kara says bluntly. The truth is, Lena _hasn’t_ really slept in a week. Between getting ready for the playoffs and World Series, handing L-Corp over to her brother, and trying not to think about Kara, she was exhausted, but still had so much work to do and not enough hours in the day to do it. Kara looks around and clears her throat. “Anyway, I should get these beers to Kate, or she might send a hunting party after me.”

“Right, of course,” Lena says, stepping aside, so Kara can get to the table. “Good luck against Ivy Town,” she adds.

“Thanks,” Kara says, smiling a little, and turns away to walk back to the stands. Lena wants to reach out for her, to stop her and explain everything, but she doesn’t. Even if she did, her reasons wouldn’t be enough, because they were still selfish and to save her own hide. Everyone else was right, she’d been foolish to think she could keep up the charade as well as her job, but being a woman meant being worth less than a man, even if she was more fit to run the company. And because she wasn’t married with children, she had even less worth in the eyes of society.

She purchases her beers and walks back to her seat. Morgan frowns as she slides past him and asks where his is.

“Up at the refreshment stand, although, I’m not sure if they serve rodents there,” Lena answers.

“You really are a bitch,” Morgan spits with a snarl on his face. “No wonder you’re all alone. No man would ever want to marry you. No woman, either.” He says the second sentence quieter, but Lena still hears it. “Looks like Danvers dodged a bullet.”

Lena’s heard enough. She takes her cup of beer and pours it right into Morgan Edge’s lap and he stands up immediately, shocked. “You’re going to pay for that,” he says through gritted teeth and storms off, leaving the crowded stadium. Lena takes her seat next to Jess, who smiles proudly at her.

“He had it coming, ma’am.”

“That he did,” replies Lena.

“What if he still releases those photos? Maybe he kept copies as a precaution.”

Lena mulls that possibility over for a while, but the realization that it no longer matters gives her a feeling of calm. She’s already lost Kara and her company. Losing her reputation is a nonfactor now, since there’s no reason for her to keep up appearances. So, she just shrugs at Jess and takes a sip of her assistant’s beer.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Jess flashes her a concerned look, but when Lena doesn’t look back at her, she drops it and goes back to watching the game. By the ninth inning, National City is ahead by one run with Metropolis getting one more at-bat. Veronica Sinclair hits a single and is the tying run with two outs as Lucy’s sister Lois steps up to the plate. She digs her foot into the dirt and lifts her bat. Alice stares straight ahead and nods at Leslie’s sign, winding up and throwing the first pitch outside for a ball. The cheers from the stands are deafening and Lena wonders how anyone can hear themselves think. Knowing that Kara is sitting a few seats above her makes her feel uneasy and she almost wants to leave, but she needs to stay for the team.

The crack of the bat shakes Lena from her thoughts as she watches the ball sail far back to the edge of the field. Maggie runs to try and cut it off, jumping up with her glove high above her head and falling forward with her glove closed. When she opens it, the ball appears and she holds it up with a big smile on her face. Her teammates all rush at her and lift her up on their shoulders cheering and congratulating each other before going to shake the other team’s hands. Lena lets out a breath of relief before turning her head slightly to the stands above hers. She sees Kara clapping and yelling at Maggie, smiling proudly and she tells Jess she’s going to go. Before her assistant can say a word, Lena is running up the stairs, avoiding eye contact with everyone and heading straight for the exit.

What she doesn’t see are Kara’s eyes following her as she leaves, her mouth curving down into a frown. She also doesn’t see Kate noticing what Kara’s looking at and looking at her with forlorn pity. Lena’s driver meets her out front and takes her back to the L-Corp office, where she stays for the rest of the day, ignoring all phone calls that come through.

By the time she’s ready to go home, she’s wrapped up almost everything needed in order to complete the company handover to Lex. She’s sent out a company-wide notice thanking every employee for their hard work the past year. She suspects many will be surprised that Lex is returning to take over, but, for the most part, they’ll fall in line, because they need their jobs.

There is a three-day break between playoff games and Lena intends to use that time to drink herself unconscious so she doesn’t have to deal with her mess of a life. She’s taking a page right out of Jack’s book and hates herself for it. Lena Luthor doesn’t wallow in self-pity, but her situation isn’t like any other she’s ever had to deal with. In fact, for the first time in her life, Lena feels completely unprepared and has no idea what to do next. That’s never happened before.

On the third day, her phone rings and her head does, as well. She squints as if doing so will allow her eyes to focus easier, but all it does is make it harder to see. The phone continues ringing and doesn’t let up, so she rolls onto her knees and crawls over to where her telephone sits and fumbles around with the receiver before answering.

“Hello?” Her voice is hoarse and gravely.

“Wow, how many frogs did you swallow last night?”

“Can it, Jack. What do you want?” Lena groans, her patience already wearing thin.

“The team and I are going to go watch the Gotham game, wanted to know if you wanted to come.”

“I don’t think so,” Lena replies while rubbing her aching forehead.

“Come on, Lena. When’s the last time you left your apartment?” Jack’s voice made him sound like a petulant child that could rival Ruby.

“None of your business,” comes a gruff response.

“I’m coming over and dragging you out. This has gone on long enough.”

“Jack, wait—” The only thing Lena hears is silence from the other end and she angrily hangs the receiver up on the stand. It would take Jack about twenty minutes to get there and Lena hasn’t showered or changed her clothes in three days. She drags herself off the floor and quickly washes herself, then pops a couple of aspirin in her mouth, chasing it down with some tap water. By the time Jack lets himself in, Lena’s dressed and ready with a frown spread across her face.

“Oh, you’re ready. I was expecting to have to literally drag you out of your bed.” Lena gives him an annoyed look before picking up her purse and breezing right by him on the way to the front door. He stumbles behind her and she closes the door and locks up. On the way to the baseball field, Lena glowers the entire time and Jack sighs.

“Can you at least pretend to be excited?”

“What exactly is there to be excited about, Jack?”

“Maybe that the winner of this game plays National City in the _World Series_?”

“It’s no longer my team. Why should I care?”

Jack rubs his tired eyes. “Because you were the one who got us to this point.”

“Actually, the players got themselves here,” Lena counters. “All I did was organize the team. The coaching and the players’ athletic ability are the reason why they’re here.”

“Did you just compliment me?” Jack asks, nudging Lena’s shoulder. She breaks and a small smile curls across her lips.

“Don’t let it get to your head,” she replies and Jack gives her a grin as they exit the taxi once they pull up to the front of the ballpark. Lena takes a deep, sobering breath. She can do this. It’s not like Kara will see her all the way up in the stands, surrounded by hundreds of other people.

Unfortunately for her, Jack sits them down right behind the Ivy Town dugout, so if Kara even glances in its general direction, she’ll most likely see them there. Both teams are introduced by the announcers and they run out onto the field to start warming up. Kara runs out of the dugout and starts tossing a ball back and forth with Kate. She glances over in Lena’s direction and Lena could swear she saw the ghost of a smile slide across Kara’s lips, but she could just be seeing things. Jack nudges her with an elbow and asks if she wants anything to drink.

“It’s ten in the morning, Jack,” she rolls her eyes.

“It’s never too early,” Jack responds with a sly grin and then sighs when he sees Lena’s glare. “Fine, spoilsport. I’ll go get us some seltzer.” He stands and walks up the stairs to the refreshments area, leaving Lena by herself. Her hands are clasped in her lap and she’s resisting the urge to wring them the way she always does when she’s nervous or uncomfortable. Her eyes refuse to leave Kara, who’s smiling and cheering on her teammates through their warm-ups and Lena remembers when that smile used to be directed at her not even three weeks ago.

By the time Jack comes back with their drinks and a bag of peanuts, the game is about to start and the crowd is so loud that Lena can barely hear herself think, which is just as well, since she’d mostly be thinking about Kara. Jack offers her some peanuts, but she declines as the first batter for Gotham steps up to the plate. The pitcher for Ivy Town throws the first ball and it’s hit down the first base line, right into Sara’s glove and she tags the base for the first out.

Kara comes up to bat next and the entire stadium falls to a low hum, while Lena holds her breath. The look of determination on Kara’s face shouldn’t affect Lena as much as it does, but the way Kara tightens her grip around the neck of the bat and digs her shoe into the dirt reminds her of the time she spent on the Argonauts and what it would mean if Gotham City faced them in the World Series. The crack of the ball hitting the bat shakes Lena from her thoughts as she hears the commotion from the stands and watches as Kara speeds toward first base. The throw is too late and she’s safe. Lena sees Kara’s eyes glance up at her direction briefly before darting away and she hopes Kara saw her cheering for her.

The game remains scoreless for the first five innings, the pitchers on both teams playing the games of their lives and not allowing a single run to score. By the seventh inning, Kara looks visibly tired and shakes out her throwing arm before every pitch. Her coach lets her stay in for the eighth inning and she’s holding Ivy Town at bay until Ava Sharpe hits a line drive out to center field for a double. Sara Lance is up to bat next and the first pitch Kara throws is hit down the third baseline and Ava speeds past second and third base to score the first run of the game. Kara throws her mitt to the ground and takes a deep breath before her coach walks out from the dugout, presumably to sub her out.

Lena’s brow furrows when she sees Kara shaking her head and pleading with her coach to let her stay in, but Kate walks out to talk to her and Kara picks up her mitt and heads over to the dugout with her shoulders slumped. She doesn’t look at Lena, or anyone else, but Lena still feels a lump in her throat, wanting to give Kara words of encouragement that she knows wouldn’t be at all welcome. At the end of the inning, Kate walks over to console Kara and wraps an arm around her shoulders, whispering something to her and Kara lets out a watery chuckle. The sharp sting of jealously aches throughout Lena’s chest, but she knows she gave up her right to feel that way the second she signed the paperwork to dissolve Kara’s contract and sent her over to Gotham.

The rest of the game is actually kind of exciting. Gotham scores in their next, and final, at-bat, tying the game at one run each. Everyone in the stands and on the players’ bench are on the edge of their seats when the next hitter for Gotham comes up to bat with two outs. It’s Kate’s girlfriend, Sophie, who steps up and their second baseman, Mary Hamilton, is at third base – their winning run. The first pitch is thrown for a ball and Lena grabs onto Jack’s hand, squeezing it tight.

“Ouch, love. You’re holding it rather hard.”

“Hush up, Jack. This is their last chance.” He stays quiet, but winces when Lena squeezes it again when the second pitch is thrown and missed. One ball, one strike. After the next few pitches, it’s a full count of three balls and two strikes when the last pitch is thrown and Sophie swings hard at it, making contact and sends it flying high into the air. As it travels far back toward the left field stands, everyone’s on their feet and a roar of cheers erupts throughout the stadium when the ball goes over the fence for a homerun. Gotham is ahead by a run and Ivy Town has one last at-bat.

The first two outs come easily with a ground out and a foul ball caught by Kate. The third batter walks up and she looks nervous. Lena looks over at the Gotham dugout to see how Kara’s doing and she looks just as nervous, if not moreso. Gotham’s pitcher takes a deep breath and throws. It flies over the plate for strike one. The second pitch – a curveball – gets thrown and the batter hits it foul for strike two.

“My god, they’re going to do it,” Lena breathes under her breath.

“It’s not over yet,” Jack replies. Lena huffs and watches as the next two pitches are thrown as balls to try and get the batter to swing. When the next pitch is released the entire stadium goes quiet when the bat makes contact with it and it flies over the head of the pitcher into center field. Lena squeezes Jack’s hand and he squeezes back, but when they watch the Black Hawk’s centerfielder running back toward the fence, making a leap into the air and reaching way above her head, not a single person breathes. The player collides with the fence and bounces off, clutching her glove to her chest. When she stands up and brushes herself off, she holds up the ball in her hand triumphantly and the loudest roar Lena’s every heard erupts throughout the stadium as all of the Gotham fans and players cheer for their team.

Lena can’t help but turn her attention back toward Kara in the dugout. She has a dim smile on her face as she’s congratulated by her teammates.

“She doesn’t look too happy that they won,” Jack observes.

“Probably because she didn’t get to finish out the game,” Lena replies, furrowing her brow when Kara retreats into the locker room instead of celebrating with everyone else on the field.

“Come on, let’s go celebrate,” Jack says, grabbing Lena by the hand and pulling her up the stairs behind him. Lena wants to decline, but she can’t think of a good reason to, other than she wants to stick around to see if Kara comes back out. Even if she did, it’s likely that Kara wouldn’t even speak to her, so she follows Jack up and out of the stadium. She hates feeling this way, having her entire mood being dependent on how another person feels about her. Lillian raised her to not care about that. It was the only way Lena would survive in the men’s world of business, she’d told her. But now, she’d give almost anything to have Kara smile at her again.

The next few days pass by quickly and Lena’s handover to Lex goes off without a hitch. The board decided that having Lex become the CEO before the World Series would help the image of both the league and the company. Lena didn’t care either way, but Lex still invited her to the game, nonetheless. If it hadn’t been for Jack and the rest of the team begging her to go, she would probably be on her way to Metropolis.

“You’ve earned this,” Jack tells her. “This is still _your_ team, and this is going to be _your_ championship. Anything that Lex does from here on out won’t change that.”

Lena stares into her wine glass and takes a sip as she sits across from her friend at dinner. He’d dragged her out of her puddle of wallowing and brought her to one of the restaurants she still owned. In all honesty, she just wants to get so drunk that she won’t remember the days leading up to the World Series. But, just like she did for Jack when he was at his lowest, he wasn’t going to let her do that to herself.

“You know, I was serious before. Say the word and you and I can start our own business. No amount of money would make me stay with Lex if you asked me to go with you.”

Lena smiles softly at him and shakes her head. “I don’t think I’m cut out for business.”

Jack scoffs. “Are you kidding me? You’re more qualified than probably half the men who are in charge of these companies. You’re damn good at your job, don’t let your mother’s pride tell you otherwise.”

Deep down, she knows Jack’s right. She could run circles around Lex or any of the other men on her board, but after being talked down to, everyone questioning her ability to take over from her father, and her own mother not having confidence in her, she started to wonder if any of those doubts had any weight to them. Now, with her team in shambles after the Danvers sisters’ departure, she’s starting to believe they’re all right.

“Hey, get out of your own head,” Jack says gently, placing a hand atop of Lena’s. “I know you, and I know your first instinct is to not believe the praise you’re given, but for once I’m right about this. If you’re ever going to trust me about anything, trust me on this.”

Lena takes a deep breath and her vision blurs before she realizes that she’s crying. She dabs at her face with a napkin. “You’re a bastard, you know that?” she laughs.

Jack smiles at her. “I know. You remind me daily. Now, come on. I believe you told me I was going to get a date out of all of this.”

“I said you were going to during our last home game, which has passed already,” Lena replies as they both settle the bill.

“Well, technically, the championship is on our home field. Still counts,” he grins slyly. Lena just rolls her eyes and follows him out of the restaurant. She gets dropped off at her apartment and Jack warns her not to drink herself to unconsciousness before the big game, because he doesn’t want to have to toss her in the shower. _You never had an issue with seeing me naked before,_ Lena quips, and knows that Jack’s face will be tomato red all the way home. She gazes longingly at her half-empty bottle of whiskey, but places a glass under the water tap instead. Not a minute later, her phone rings and she walks over to it.

“Hello?”

“ _Lena, hi_. _How are you?_ ”

Lena silently cringes. “What do you want, Lex?”

“ _Straight to the point, okay. I have a favor to ask. I know you don’t owe me anything, but Mother insists we throw a gala for the Argonauts since they’re in the World Series. I’d love for you to be there._ ”

“I have no intention, nor do I have any desire, to be anywhere near that gala. You and Mother will have to find another pair of breasts to parade around.”

“ _Lena—”_

“No, Lex. This is your company now, it’s your team, I don’t want anything to do with it after this season is over.”

“ _Well, that’s what I wanted to discuss with you. I want you to keep control of the team, partner with me. I want you to be my CFO._ ”

Lena knew this offer was coming. Lex was in over his head and needed her to help him through it. Lillian has no idea how inept her son is at running a business and Lena will be left doing all the work while he takes all the glory. She’ll die before she allows her family to use her for their gain.

“ _Please, Lena. Come to the gala and I won’t ask you for anything else, ever again. I won’t contact you.”_

“I have your word?” Lena asks.

“ _You have my word,_ ” Lex replies.

“Fine.” She hangs up the phone and starts to look through her closet for something to wear. Nothing is catching her eye, so she calls her driver to come pick her up before the shops close. An hour later and fifty dollars poorer, she has her dress – a black sleeveless number that will show off her neck and shoulders, as well as give her mother a heart attack. It’s perfect.

The night of the gala comes up and she has her driver pick Jack up on the way. She didn’t give him a choice and told him he was going as her plus one, but he was getting free food and alcohol out of it, so he didn’t put up a fight. When they pull up, the driver opens the passenger door, letting them both out. Jack steps out of the car and looks around at the property, letting out a low whistle.

“Look at this place.”

Lena rolls her eyes. “Pick your jaw up off the floor. You’ve been in fancier places than this.”

“Not since my baseball days,” Jack responds. “Look at this fountain!”

Lena drags him away and searches for her brother. The sooner she finds him, the sooner they can leave. They maneuver their way through the crowds of people, Lena recognizing a lot of them as L-Corp’s business partners and the like, most of them men who never liked her and made her life hell. As they’re about to turn a corner, a group of women catches her eye and she looks over and practically dives behind a bush.

“What is _she_ doing here?”

Jack looks at whoever Lena is talking about. “They probably invited both teams, since this is a gala to recognize the league’s success. I’ve heard rumors that the World Series game is sold out.”

Lena steels herself and stands tall. She can be professional about this. She _can_. Before she can talk herself into leaving early, a group of people walk up to them.

“Hey, Luthor,” a voice called out. Lena plasters a completely fake smile on her face and turns to face whomever it came from.

“Ah, Miss Kane. Congratulations on you and your team making it to the World Series.”

“I guess we have you to thank. Probably couldn’t have done it without Danvers,” she grins slyly. Lena knows she’s trying to rile her up, get a reaction. She senses that Kate is unabashedly loyal to her friends and now that she and Kara have made up and are now teammates, Lena is at a disadvantage. What hurts the most, though, is the thought that Kara’s spoken to Kate about them and neither one of them knowing she didn’t trade Kara out of malice.

She returns the smile right back at Kate. “Well, I had to make it somewhat competitive. Wouldn’t want a boring one-sided game, now would we?”

“I suppose not,” Kate says and then looks over her shoulder. “Speak of the Devil.”

Kara walls up to them and Lena clenches her jaw tight, forcing yet another smile on her face.

“Hope you’re staying out of trouble Kate,” Kara warns good-naturedly and smiling politely at both Lena and Jack.

“Of course, dear,” Kate replies sarcastically. She takes a look between Kara and Lena and takes a step back. “I’ll leave you to it.” Kara looks like she’s going to protest, but Kate’s already walking away. Jack squeezes Lena’s shoulder and follows Kate before she can say anything.

“You look nice,” Kara says, not quite meeting Lena’s eyes.

“Thank you,” Lena replies. “You look… handsome.” Kara’s wearing a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a pair of dark slacks. It reminds her of the outfit she wore on their date.

“I don’t hate you, you know,” Kara blurts out and Lena’s eyes dart up to meet hers. “I was mad for a while, and hurt, but I know why you did it.”

“You do?” Lena asks, furrowing her brow. She wonders if Edge told Kara, or if someone else said something.

“Alex told me about the warehouse. I know you probably blame yourself for what happened to our dad, but you weren’t even head of the company then. There was nothing you could have done. I wouldn't have told anyone.”

Lena shakes her head. She needs to tell Kara the truth, tell her that Morgan Edge had her backed against a wall and was about to expose them, but she’s worried that won’t be a good enough reason for Kara. She needs to tell her, she needs to tell her, _she needs to_ —

“I’d better get back to the team. They were going to take some group photos,” Kara says, looking behind her, likely trying to find Kate.

“Kara, I’m—”

“It’s okay, Lena,” she interrupts. “I’ll see you later.”

Lena struggles to find words to say, so she just lets Kara go. “Good luck tomorrow. Lay off the high ones,” Lena says as Kara begins to walk away. The ballplayer stops and looks back at Lena with a crooked smile.

“Has nothing to do with luck, Miss Luthor, and I like the high ones.”

And then she’s gone.

The sting of Kara using formality with Lena’s name runs deep and as Jack makes his way back over, he hands her a champagne glass.

“You look like you need this,” he offers. She takes it and practically swallows its entire contents in one gulp. “That bad?”

“It was… fine. She thinks I traded her because of her father.”

“Ah,” Jack says gravely. “And I’m assuming you didn’t tell her the real reason?”

“I tried. I was building up the courage, but she left before I could. I’m such a goddamn coward.” She feels a tightness in her chest as she pushes down her despair, not allowing herself to fall apart in the middle of the family estate. Jack must see her struggling, so he takes her by the arm and escorts her outside onto one of the balconies for some fresh air.

“We can just go, you know. You’ve made your appearance, done your familial duties. They can’t force you to stay.”

Lena considers it, knows that Jack’s right. Lillian and Lex can’t hold her captive any longer, as she isn’t a part of the company. Any threats they throw in her direction hold no weight, because they’ve already taken everything from her. She’s about to agree with Jack’s idea to leave when Lillian walks through the balcony doors.

“Oh, there you are. Your little baseball team is taking promotional photos, you should be in them.”

“They’re not my team anymore. Go get Lex to take them,” Lena replies with a sharpness in her voice. Lillian doesn’t budge and puts on her signature smirk. “Lex will be in the photo, don’t worry. I’m announcing the handover tonight, so I’d like to have photos of the two of you. Now, come along and then I’ll release you from my clutches.” She turns and walks with a demure fluidity back into the mansion. Lena looks over at Jack, who just shrugs unhelpfully, and Lena sighs and walks inside.

There’s a large group of people at the top of the large staircase and one of the photographers is placing each player where he wants them. Both teams are present and grouped up. He puts both Lex and Lena front and center with each team standing behind them.

“Oh wait, no, we need to have Miss Danvers in the front, as well. Why don’t you stand next to Miss Luthor, since she was your former team manager?”

Lena wants to pop the guy in the mouth, but she resists and keeps her hands firmly clasped in front of her. Kara clears her throat and keeps a sensible distance between the two of them, but Lena can still feel the heat between them. Lena must dissociate, because the next thing she knows, the photos are finished and Lillian is getting everyone’s attention.

“While I have you all here, I figured this would be a good time to tell all of you that L-Corp will be handed over to my son, Lex. Lena will still be involved, of course, but the managerial side of the company will be taken care of by Lex. The crowd murmurs and Lena can feel multiple pairs of eyes on her, and one pair of blue eyes in particular are especially searing. Lena puts on her boardroom smile and puts a hand on her brother’s shoulder.

“Lex will be more than capable of taking over for me. I have all the confidence in the world that L-Corp and the Argonauts are in good hands.” She doesn’t believe a word that’s coming out of her mouth. Lex is going to burn the entire company to the ground just like their father did and she’ll be far, far away, imagining herself telling Lillian _I told you so_. She’s about to find Jack and make a getaway when she feels a hand grab her arm.

“What is this? You’re giving away the company? Just like that? After everything you’ve done for it?” Kara’s eyes are wild and Lena wrenches her arm out her grasp.

“Let’s be honest, this was always an inevitability. Society isn’t ready to have a woman in charge of anything. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” She tries to move around Kara, who continues blocking her way.

“What are you doing, Lena? This isn’t like you, to just give up. Look, if this is because of me, I’ll quit. I’ll go back to Midvale, back to the farm.”

Lena barks out a humorless laugh. “Not everything is about you, Miss Danvers. Don’t presume to know me, we’ve only known each other for a few months. Please get out of my way.” Kara looks at her with the one thing Lena can’t stand – pity – and takes a step to the side. She’s being unfair to Kara, she knows it, but it’s the only way for her to survive. Jack deems it safe enough to approach the two of them and nods politely at Kara.

“Ready to go?”

“Definitely,” Lena replies, leaving Kara standing alone in the middle of a place that she’s never considered home. She doesn’t dare look back at Kara, but she swears she can hear both of their hearts breaking a second time.


	9. Chapter 9

The World Series arrives and Lena’s nearly free. She plans on doing some traveling before finding a place to settle down, possibly in Metropolis, or maybe in a small town like Midvale where no one would know her or her family. She wants to be forgotten, to blend in with the other small town folks. She knows doing so may mean giving up her inheritance, but she has enough money saved up to last her a while, and she’s always lived somewhat modestly, anyway.

After eating a quick breakfast, she gathers her things and heads downstairs where her driver is waiting for her. The air around the city has been buzzing for the past few days with excitement for the game coming from every direction. Pennants for both teams fly high on every streetlight, posters hang from shop windows. Lena has to admit that it’s all made her a little excited about the game, herself, but that’s quickly overshadowed by the apprehension of seeing her former team after they’ve all been informed that she’s no longer their manager.

Her car pulls up to the baseball field and she steps out. The crowd of people in front is already enormous, with people selling newspapers and others selling baseball cards with the players on them. Lena buys a few packs for herself and heads inside. She’s about to try and find her seat when she feels a hand clap down on her shoulder and she’s about to elbow whomever decided that was a good idea before she sees who it is.

“Hey, Luthor,” Sara grins widely. “Glad you made it.”

“I’m sure,” Lena responds dryly. “Hi, Ava,” she waves at her standing next to Sara.

“Hi, Lena,” she smiles.

Sara leans in closer. “So, word on the street is you’re no longer manager of the Argonauts and you’ve stepped down from your position at L-Corp. Ivy Town’s looking for some ballsy women like yourself if you’re interested in relocating. To be honest, our manager, Rip Hunter, is kinda useless. We could use a woman’s voice.”

Lena scoffs. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They leave her then and Lena walks in the opposite direction. She finds her seat behind the Argonauts dugout and Jack tips his hat to her. She watches the girls run out onto the field and they all smile at her, except for Leslie. She keeps her catcher’s helmet on and runs right past.

“Leslie,” Lena calls out. Still no reaction, so she tries again. “Hey, thirteen, can you hear me?”

Leslie turns around and takes off her helmet, but it isn’t Leslie at all. Alex stares back at her with a frown. “Yeah, I hear ya, Jesus. What do you want?”

“Alex? You-you’re back?” Lena asks in disbelief.

“Couldn’t let Kara have all the glory,” Alex replies, shrugging and popping her gum with her teeth, staring Lena down. “Did you need something, or can I get back to warm-ups?”

“No, go ahead,” Lena replies and smiles to herself. For the first time in a while, she’s feeling a little hopeful. With Alex back, they definitely have a better shot at winning, and even though she’s no longer manager of the team, she still wants to see them succeed. She watches as Alex and Kara nod politely at each other. Edge is getting the rivalry he wanted after all.

Lena thinks back to a conversation she and Kara had on one of their bus rides. Kara disclosed that she and Alex always competed against each other, always wanted to be better than the other at anything they did. Kara said it was because she was trying to prove herself as a new member of the Danvers family, so they wouldn’t send her away. Lena remembers empathizing with her, being adopted herself. She was terrified that Lillian would send her back to the orphanage every day, so she did everything she could to prove that she was worthy of the Luthor name. Clearly, nothing she did worked, as she was stripped of her company, title, and status.

One thing that stuck out to Lena was that Kara said the competition with Alex made her better. Together, they made each other better, and baseball was no different. Kara would always try to hit harder and run faster than her sister and it wasn’t until she reached high school that she was able to overtake Alex. Lena had asked her what she would’ve done if they hadn’t been on the same team and Kara said that she’d be sad, but she wouldn’t go easy on her sister, because she didn’t expect Alex to go easy on her.

So, now that they’re playing on opposing sides at the first women’s baseball championship, Lena wonders how the Danvers sisters’ dynamic will look. Will there be animosity? Will it be good-natured ribbing? Her questions are answered soon after when she sees Alex and Kara talking near home plate. Kara’s arms are waving wildly in the air and she looks upset, while Alex looks like she’s trying to placate her sister. She can’t tell what’s being said, but she’s not sure she wants to know after Kara turns away and knocks a few bats off the benches. Alex heads back to the Argonauts’ dugout and they all get ready for the first pitch.

Lena can hear Jack giving the team a pep talk, telling them that this is their time to shine, to prove to all of these people that they belong on this field. He tells them that no matter the outcome of the game, he’s proud to have been their coach and thanks them for giving him a chance. Then, he takes a step out and his eyes find Lena’s.

“And we need to thank Miss Luthor for everything she’s done for the league and our team. I say this all the time, but we wouldn’t be here without her.” He begins to applaud her and others start to join in. Soon, the entire stadium has erupted in cheers and praise and she hears someone behind her say that Lex will never live up to her legacy. Lena smiles graciously and waves at the crowd, resisting the urge to throw her popcorn down at Jack. Her eyes travel across the field and land on Kara, who’s clapping from the edge of the dugout. She wants nothing more than to be able to run across the diamond, right into Kara’s arms and tell her how she feels, but she doesn’t. Even with nothing left to lose, she’s still a coward. She’s resigned to the fact that she will likely spend the rest of her life alone, because no one will be able to fill the hole that she carved out for Kara. It was this realization one night, two glasses into her bottle of pinot, that she truly understood the extent of her feelings for Kara and how much she royally fucked up and continued to fuck up. If she wasn’t actively avoiding Kara, she was pushing her away. If she wasn’t pushing her away, she was working, or drinking, herself to death to keep her mind occupied.

 _This_ is why she doesn’t get close to people, this is why she’s always keeps everyone at arm’s length, especially romantic partners. Don’t get attached, don’t get hurt. That’s been her mantra for years. But with Kara, she let her in almost immediately. There was no way around it. It was an inevitability, like the sun rising in the east each morning. She wishes she could take it all back, to save the both of them all of the pain and sorrow. Never having Kara at all would be better than losing her over and over.

Wouldn’t it?

Once the game starts, Lena finally has something else to concentrate on. Jess is sitting next to her dutifully and Lena is really going to miss her. National City is up to bat first and Kara takes her place on the pitcher’s mound. She waits for her signal from Kate and nods before the wind-up and the pitch comes – a breaking ball in the bottom left corner for strike one. The crowd cheers and the first inning remains scoreless.

By the second inning, Kara comes up to bat for the Black Hawks and digs her shoe into the dirt before choking up on the bat. Alice narrows her eyes and throws the first pitch. It’s way inside and Kara has to jerk backwards to avoid getting hit. Lena chalks it up to a warning pitch to get Kara to stop crowding the box, but when the second pitch is thrown, it’s high and inside, nearly taking Kara’s head off. Kara looks furious, but she remains calm enough to lift her bat for the next pitch, which hits her right in the hip this time. She throws her bat down and starts walking toward Alice.

“You got something you want to say to me?”

“Nah, I already said it,” Alice retorts with a smirk. “How’s it feel to not be teacher’s pet anymore? Or have you already started on Mr. Wayne?” Kara rushes her and tackles her to the ground before her coach can run out and grab her, pulling her off. Jack comes out and dismisses Alice, replacing her with a relief pitcher and she slumps down on the bench. “You know you were all thinking it!”

“That’s enough, Alice,” Jack warns.

The game continues and the drama subsides, and Lena can’t help but keep glancing at Kara, who’s still fuming on the pitcher’s mound. She’s throwing pitches as hard as she can and if she doesn’t calm down, she’s going to overexert herself. Pitch after pitch gets thrown and the game remains scoreless until Alex comes up to bat in the ninth inning. Kara shakes her arm out before readying herself and throws the first pitch outside for ball one. She throws the second pitch and the crack of the bat is deafening as the crowd collectively holds their breath, watching the ball sail over the left field fence. An eruption of cheers rings through the field as Alex grins widely while rounding the bases until she stops at home. Kara’s bent over, visibly upset, and Kate jogs over to talk to her.

Gotham gets the next three outs, but the damage is done, and National City leads one to zero. It’s Gotham’s last chance at bat and Sophie hits a double, but the next two batters strike out. It’s Kara’s turn to bat, but she’s still sitting in the dugout having what looks like a panic attack. Lena’s heart aches for her, and when Kara finally gets it together and grabs her bat, she slowly walks out to the field and Alex takes a timeout before jogging over to the pitcher. She whispers something to her and the pitcher nods. As Alex heads back behind home plate, Kara frowns at her, but gets into her batting stance and waits.

The first pitch is thrown and it’s high, but Kara swings at it for strike one.

“Oh no,” Lena whispers. “Lay off the high ones, Kara.” She squeezes the bag of popcorn in her hands until all of the kernels inside become nothing but dust when Kara swings at the second high pitch for strike two. The frustration is visible all over Kara’s face and her cheeks are stained with tears, but she takes a deep breath and steps back up to the plate. The Argonauts’ pitcher waits for Alex’s signal and nods. She stands ready and winds up, the ball leaves her hand and it travels toward home plate; Lena reaches over to grab onto Jess’ hand and squeezes while the ball passes over the plate. It’s another high fastball and Kara swings at it, but this time she connects. Everyone rises to their feet as they watch it sail to the outfield and it rolls past Siobhan, bouncing against the fence. Sophie has already scored, tying the game, but Kara’s running full speed through second base and ignoring the third base coach’s instructions to stop. Kara rounds third and heads straight for home, Lucy throwing the ball to Alex, who’s crowding the plate. Neither sister backs down and Kara barrels right over Alex, pushing her to the ground. A cloud of dust kicks up around them and when it settles, the ball is no longer in Alex’s hand and has rolled inches away, meaning Kara is safe and Gotham has won.

The crowd roars and the entire Black Hawk dugout empties, rushing toward Kara to celebrate. Kate and Sophie lift her up onto their shoulders and parade her around the field, while Alex is slow to get up. Jack walks out and helps her to her feet while the other team continues their celebration. Kara looks down at her sister and reaches over to grab Alex’s hand.

“You did it. Proud of you, kid,” Alex says. Her team carries her away then, leaving Jack an Alex on the field. Lena watches on, feeling both pride and sadness. This is likely the last time she’ll see Kara, or anyone else in the league. She doesn’t plan on sticking around much longer and has made plans to start driving around the country to explore places she’s never been to before. Knowing herself, she isn’t going to be able to sit still for long and plans on meeting with other potential business partners to see if she can get something off the ground. She’s been in contact with other people she’s met, and has begun discussions on creating a women-led business that will create jobs for wives of military men in science and engineering fields. By the time the war ends, she’ll have cultivated a brand new generation of professional women who will no longer have to stay at home solely cooking supper and taking care of children. They will have purpose outside of their families.

Lena knows there will be celebrations all night and likely into the weekend, but she has no desire to be involved. There isn’t much for her to celebrate, so when Jack and Jess show up at her front door, she’s more than prepared to decline whatever invitation they have cooked up.

“Think of it as a send-off,” Jack tries to reason.

“You know I don’t care to be the center of attention,” Lena replies, while mindlessly wiping off her already clean counter.

“Miss Luthor, the team wanted to do something for you, to show their appreciation,” Jess says.

“I appreciate it, but I don’t feel much like celebrating.” She continues walking around the kitchen, wishing the two of them would leave her to wallow in peace, but no such luck.

“Do it for us, then, to show your appreciation for your friends.” Jack is practically begging at this point and Lena honestly just wants them to leave her alone, so she finally agrees. Jack and Jess celebrate, giving each other a high five, while Lena rolls her eyes at the two of them. They wait not-so-patiently while Lena gets ready to go and head out to hail a cab. Lena expects them to arrive at a bar, but instead, they pull up to the house where the Argonauts have been staying for the past six months. There are tables and lights set up in the backyard and every player greets Lena with a smile and a hug.

Her mood instantly sours when she sees Morgan Edge make his way through the crowd over to her.

“Luthor, didn’t think you’d show your face.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” Lena sneers. Jack and Jess bristle behind her, but they know Lena can handle herself, so they stay quiet.

“Listen, Lena, I don’t want to fight. The league did great this season, but I hear the war is ending soon, so we won’t need it any longer. The women can get back to their homes, back to their families where they belong. Let’s let bygones be bygones.”

“You’re going to dissolve the league?” Lena asks incredulously, looking at all of the players in the house. “You can’t do that to them.”

“They won’t be needed once the men come back from overseas. We’ll have the men’s league back soon enough.”

“You’re despicable.”

Edge leans in. “Give me a little time and you’ll change your tune. Maybe I can even get you to switch teams again.”

Lena’s about to slap him across the face when Kara grabs him by the shoulder and throws a punch right across his jaw. She shakes out her hand and Edge grabs his face and is about to walk toward Kara when Jack intervenes and steps in front of him.

“I think it’s time for you to go, unless you’d like me to tell people how much you love threatening and blackmailing those who just want to live their lives.”

Edge stands at his full height, trying to look intimidating, but when he notices all eyes are on him, he backs down and scoffs. “Fine, you’ll all be out of a job by next month, anyway. Enjoy poverty.” He walks out the door and Lena watches him go, but sees Kara cradling her hand out of the corner of her eye.

“Your hand—"

“I’m okay. God, that felt good,” Kara says with a dopey grin. Nia walks up with a bag of frozen peas and hands it to Kara, who places it over her knuckles. She looks over at Lena and chews on her bottom lip, wondering what to say next. “Jack told me what he did,” she blurts out. Jack’s eyes widen and he takes that as his cue to leave, heading straight for the table of alcohol. “When I asked Alex about it at the game, she said she had no idea, but said I was better off. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Lena just shakes her head. “I was ashamed, and a coward. I thought I could handle him on my own, but he had proof. I didn’t want to get you involved.”

Kara leans against one of the tables. “But I got involved anyway, didn’t I? If you’d have told me, I would have willingly traded myself to a different team if it meant I got to keep you.”

Looking down at her hands, tugging at her fingers nervously, she shakes her head. “It wouldn’t have worked out. I would have pushed you away eventually, gotten you to hate me somehow. To be honest, I’m surprised you’re still talking to me.”

Kara chuckles and takes a sip of her beer with her uninjured hand. “I’m not that easily dissuaded.”

“Why are you still being nice to me? I’ve been nothing but awful and cruel to you.” The guilt Lena’s built up is starting to bubble over. Everything she’s said to Kara comes to the surface of her memory, every awful thing she’s thought about the two of them, every doubt that eked its way into Lena’s chest to build up barriers becomes a pinprick in her heart.

Kara glances over at her with a look that would dismantle anyone. If Lena were anybody else, she’d have been a puddle on the floor, waiting to be cleaned up. “I know pain when I see it. Pa always said when we’re hurt, we do and say things we don’t always mean. I’m hoping your time off will let you relax a little, so you can finally live your life the way you deserve to. I’d follow you if you asked me to.”

“I—” Lena wants to ask, she would love nothing more than to have someone else with her while she maps out the next chapter of her life, but she can’t bring someone like Kara down with her. There’s too much she needs to figure out and she knows that it would hold Kara back. Her hesitation must speak volumes, because Kara just smiles sadly and stands up.

“I get it, we’re from two very different worlds, and I don’t belong in yours.”

“No, it isn’t that,” Lena insists. “I just need time.”

Kara laughs and nods. “Sure. Well, I’ll most likely be back in Midvale by the time you figure things out.”

Lena frowns. “You aren’t going to keep playing baseball?”

“No,” Kara shakes her head and smiles almost wistfully. “I’ve been away from the farm too long. I appreciate the farmhands you’ve supplied, but I assume it’s only a matter of time before they stop getting paid to work for us. Besides, I miss Mike.”

Lena doesn’t say anything, she knows this is goodbye. So, she just puts on her bravest smile and extends her hand. “Good luck, Kara.”

Kara looks down at Lena’s hand with amusement and takes it, wrapping her fingers around and letting her thumb brush against Lena’s knuckles briefly before they both drop their hands. “I’ll see you, Coach.” Lena watches her walk away, again, watches her rejoin her team, who greet her with smiles and pats on the shoulder. Kara will be okay, Lena reassures herself. She’ll go back to Midvale, back to her old life with her family. She’ll eventually forget about Lena and their time together. It will become nothing more than a distant memory that resurfaces whenever she listens to a baseball game on the radio or plays catch with Alex. Maybe she’ll find someone to settle down with, have a family of her own someday. Lena takes solace in knowing that Kara will be okay without her, even if that means living the rest of her life alone. She’s come this far without anyone else; she can do this.

Jack comes back and stands next to her while they both watch the teams commingle with each other. “Do you want to go?” he asks.

Lena nods absentmindedly, not taking her eyes off Kara. “Yeah.” They walk out and wait for a taxi to come pick them up. Jack doesn’t say anything, but Lena knows he’s worried about her. He keeps glancing over to make sure she’s not falling to pieces in the back of the cab. When they pull up to Lena’s apartment building, she silently climbs out of the taxi. Jack rolls down his window and leans out.

“Hey, call me if you need anything.” Lena doesn’t reply, just nods and smiles solemnly back at him before entering the building. She unlocks her door and stands in the doorway for a moment, looking at her furniture and decorations spread out around the room. At one point in her life, she imagined having a small cottage or cabin where photographs hung on every wall. She’d be smiling in all of them with her spouse, possibly with a child and a dog. Every morning, she would wake up and make some coffee before sitting on the porch, breathing in the morning air. Her spouse would come join her soon after and throw a blanket over the both of them and she’d lean into them and feel peace.

She let go of that dream long ago, when it became clear to her that she had to burn bridges between personal relationship and strictly cultivate business relationships if she wanted to survive in the world of men. And on top of that, being attracted to women threw a wrench in every cog of Lena’s life, because not only was she already an outcast in her family, she was now an outcast in the rest of society.

There is nothing in her apartment that says _Lena Luthor lives here_. It’s impersonal, cold, much like her relationships. The only thing that shows an ounce of personalization is the stuffed elephant that she took from her office when she had Jess pack it up for her. It’s sitting on her nightstand where she placed it, and hasn’t touched it since.

She sits on the edge of her bed and grabs the elephant, holding it against her chest. Then, she finally lets herself cry. Tears stream down her face and her heart aches for the things she’s lost and the things she’ll never have.

She mourns the loss of her father, even though he’s the reason she’s in this state in the first place. If it wasn’t for him and his ridiculous will, she wouldn’t have had to take over the baseball team. She could have concentrated solely on L-Corp and making a name for herself, but instead, she let herself become distracted by a pretty blonde farmer. When Lena closes her eyes at night and imagines that perfect life she’s always wanted, she’ll picture coming home to Kara after a long day of work. Dinner will be waiting for her and Kara smiles widely and kisses her to welcome her home, but that dream is fleeting, just like everything always is.

A new start is what she needs, getting away from National City and the constant reminders of her failures that have been following her like a shadow. Sure, there will be things and people that she’ll miss, but they’ll be okay without her. They always are.

* * *

Jack hasn’t heard from Lena in a few days and every call has gone unanswered. He’s almost desperate enough to ask Lex if he’s talked to her, but he figures he’ll go check her apartment first. He’s had a key for a while, ever since he needed a place to stay after his break-up and Lena told him to just keep it in case of emergencies. He knocks first and presses his ear to the door, but doesn’t hear anything. After unlocking the door, the lights are off and everything feels stale, like fresh air hasn’t passed through in weeks. He calls out her name, but is answered with silence.

After checking every room, he reaches Lena’s bedroom and flips on the light switch. The bed is made, but the closets are bare. The only thing left is a stuffed elephant sitting at the foot of the bed with a note sitting on its lap. Jack picks it up and opens it, recognizing Lena’s elegant handwriting. It’s a short, succinct note, not some emotionally long letter. All it says is _Thank_ you. Jack wouldn’t expect anything more than that. He reads the flowing cursive letters over three times and smiles to himself, picking up the stuffed elephant. Lena might want it later. Wherever she’s gone, he just hopes she’s happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got, maybe, two more chapters after this one. Next chapter will switch over to Kara's POV.
> 
> I just wanted to take the time to thank all of you who've been reading this fic and enjoying it. I haven't had the spoons to reply to many comments, but I see them and appreciate them. And to those of you who left some not-so-nice comments, I hope you step on a floor full of Legos. The world is already garbage, no need to add to the pile.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara POV
> 
> Shorter chapter before the last one. :)

It’s been five months since the end of the baseball season and Kara’s getting used to being back on the farm. She missed the hard labor, if she’s being honest, but she sure as hell misses her team, too. They keep in touch, writing letters to one another still, and even sometimes writes to the Argonauts. Eliza can tell that there’s a sadness behind Kara’s bright smile, but she doesn’t ask about it. Whatever happened while Kara was away must have been pretty bad, because Kara usually tells her everything, so she’ll wait until Kara’s ready to talk.

Alex has been back for the past few months, too, but she seems restless. Getting out of Midvale did wonders for her self-esteem and confidence, and she wants to see what else is out there. Yet, she still feels obligated to stay on the farm, remain with her family, no matter how badly she wants to get out of there. There’s a quiet understanding between herself and Kara. They don’t talk about baseball or anything that happened during the season.

Some of the girls stayed in the league, most of whom didn’t have families to go back to. Morgan Edge stepped down as manager once news of his blackmail and threats got out. He was forced to move out of National City, and word on the street is he’s been working as a door-to-door salesman after no other companies would hire a disgraced businessman. Kara tried to keep tabs on Lena whenever she was mentioned in the newspaper, but eventually, stories about her became scarce and she didn’t know where Lena was or what she was doing. It didn’t keep her from thinking about her from time to time, though.

Eliza tries to get Kara to leave the farm once in a while and go out with friends, but she doesn’t seem too keen on socializing. She’ll go out drinking with Alex at a local bar sometimes, but doesn’t make much effort to talk to anyone else. Sometimes she wonders if she should have fought harder. If she could have just made Lena see that they could be together without all of the drama and the worry, made her understand that she didn’t care if they were dirt poor and lived in a shack. As long as they were together, that’s all that would matter. But, it’s too late. She let Lena go, let her walk out of her life, and she doesn’t know if they’ll ever see each other again. Kara can’t remember ever feeling this way about another person, feeling that gaping hole in her chest where a piece someone else’s heart should be next to hers.

In the times when Kara isn’t solemn or pensive, she battles through bouts of anger. Eliza’s found her angrily chopping wood or drunkenly raising her voice at the chickens on more than one occasion. Usually, she has to drag Kara away by the collar and force her to take a long, hot bath. It’s those nights where Kara finds it difficult to keep her feelings walled off. Little by little, she opens up to Eliza, tells her what happened while she was away playing ball.

“Does it ever get better?” Kara asks with her head in Eliza’s lap.

“Eventually,” she replies, running her hand through her daughter’s hair. “It’s different for everyone.”

“I think I loved her, Ma. I’ve never felt that way about anyone before.” She feels the tears start to roll down her cheeks again and her mother rubs her arm consolingly.

“I know, sweetheart.”

After a few long minutes, Kara calms down and sits up. Eliza gets up to make them some tea and Kara joins her in the kitchen. They sit down at the table and sip quietly until Eliza speaks up.

“So, now that I know what’s going on with you, will you please tell me what’s wrong with your sister?”

Kara barks out a laugh and puts her cup down. “I’m not even certain she knows.” Eliza sighs, but still has a smile on her face.

“Well, I hope she figures it out soon, because I can’t have two prickly daughters living at home. I’ll lose my mind.” After finishing her tea, Kara cleans up and kisses her mother on the side of the head before going back outside to finish up her chores. Both she and Alex have been working on the truck, trying to fix it up with whatever spare parts they can find. Lifting up the hood, she peers inside and blows out a slow breath.

“Still needs a lot of work,” Alex says from behind her.

“Sure does. Remember when Pa took us out and tried to teach us how to drive?”

Alex chuckles. “Yeah. I was twelve and you were nine.”

“I couldn’t even reach the pedals!” They laugh and reminisce until Kara’s face turns somber and she can no longer hold her mouth in the form of a smile. “I miss him.”

“Me too,” Alex agrees.

“I… miss her.”

Alex puts her arm around her sister’s shoulder and pulls her closer. “I know.”

“Do you think I should have fought harder?” Kara takes a handkerchief out of her back pocket and wipes her brow with it. Her Midvale Mudskippers hat has been replaced by a National City Argonauts hat and she traded in her baseball uniform for some blue overalls.

“I think you did what you could at the time. Lena’s stubborn, she wasn’t going to hear anyone else over her own thoughts. And it shouldn't have been solely up to you to fight for the both of you.”

Kara nods. “You know, I tried calling Jack. He doesn’t even know where she is.” Jack had told her about the elephant and the note, and finding Lena’s apartment empty. He reassured her and told her not to worry, that Lena would be okay, but Kara knew that already. Lena isn’t one to let a little setback keep her down. She’s probably just keeping a low profile and still working to make the world a better place. The thing that sticks in Kara’s mind, though, is that if _she_ feels this alone, she can’t imagine how Lena’s feeling. That’s not to say that Lena can’t make friends, or doesn’t have anyone in her corner, but she knows Lena’s spent most of her time not making any meaningful connections, and the one time she did, it bit her in the ass.

Kara knows it isn’t her fault, but she can’t help but feel a little responsible. She knew Lena didn’t want to pursue anything and that it was something she was wary about, but Kara couldn’t resist how she felt, and when Lena reciprocated, that was the happiest she’d ever been. Lena felt the same, she knows it. She could feel it when they were together, when she’d look into Lena’s eyes and see the same glint of happiness staring back at her. She could feel it when Lena came apart in her arms with a breathless sigh and tears she tried to hide. It meant something.

So, when Lena finally resurfaces and is back in the news, Kara stares blankly at the morning newspaper in disbelief. There’s her name, _Lena Luthor_ , on the front page – an article explaining where she’s been and what she’s been doing since she was ousted from L-Corp (now renamed back to LuthorCorp). Lena has been busy with her own travels and humanitarian activities, introducing more women into the engineering and science fields of the workforce. She’s created an organization that fosters young women and children to enrich their education and get them more involved in activities other than cooking and cleaning. With World War II coming to an end, she wants women to understand their worth even after the men come back from fighting overseas. They don’t lose that once men are back in the picture.

At the end of the article, it says where Lena will be going next and a breath gets caught in Kara’s throat. She’ll be in Midvale at the end of the month, traveling to smaller, more rural, towns to give those children attention that they also deserve. Maybe this is the sign Kara’s been waiting for. Lena will be there. Alex peers over her shoulder to see what her sister is reading and furrows her brow.

“Kara…”

“I know, Alex. I just—I need to see her, one last time.”

Alex’s frown doesn’t waver, but she nods. If this will bring Kara some semblance of peace, she won’t stand in the way of that.

For the next two weeks, Kara continues her work on the farm and her excitement starts to get the better of her. She has daily conversations with Mike whenever Kara milks her, telling her how she’ll start her conversations with Lena, if she gets the opportunity to speak with the former CEO.

“What do you think, Mike? Hair up or down?”

Mike’s tail swishes back and forth, but says nothing, not even a single moo.

“Yeah, you’re right. Up.”

When the day comes, Kara’s up before the sun even rises and stares at her closet morosely. What do you wear when you’re about to meet your ex-but-not-really-ex-who-probably-doesn’t-want-to-see-you? She settles on a black button-down and a denim jacket that belonged to her father, to stave off the crisp autumn air, with a pair of jeans and her formal boots. When she’s done, she heads downstairs to find Eliza already awake and brewing a pot of coffee.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Eliza greets her with a tired smile.

“Morning,” Kara replies, sitting down at the table. She starts fiddling with the placemat while Eliza prepares their coffee – Kara’s with far too much sugar and hers black. She joins her daughter at the table and pushes a mug toward her.

“Are you ready?” The question has multiple meanings and Kara doesn’t really have any answers. Is she ready to face Lena again? Not really, but if this will bring her even a modicum of closure, she has to try. She gives her mom a shrug and a crooked smile.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Eliza packs her up a lunch and some snacks for Kara to take with her before giving her a long hug.

“No matter what happens, I’m proud of you,” she says, cradling the back of Kara’s head. “I couldn’t have asked for a better daughter to grace our home.”

Kara lets out a watery laugh and tightens her hold around Eliza. “You’d better not let Alex hear you say that.”

“Better not let me hear what?” Alex asks as she comes downstairs.

“I’m Ma’s favorite,” Kara says smugly. Alex punches her in the shoulder and she squeaks out a sharp _ow_. Eliza just watches both of them fondly and the corners of her eyes crinkle with so much adoration. Finally, Kara looks at her watch and sighs. “I’d better head out. I have a feeling the auditorium is going to fill up fast.”

Eliza tugs at the sheep’s wool collar of the jacket, recognizing it and remembering its previous owner. “Drive carefully, don’t speed, and, for the love of all that is holy, don’t let that woman hurt you again.” Kara just rolls her eyes, but Eliza’s gaze continues to bore into her. “I mean it. She’s already hurt you once, don’t give her an opportunity to do it again.”

“I know, Ma,” Kara replies quietly. Eliza gives her one last hug and a kiss to the cheek before Alex steps forward and gives her a brief hug herself.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she says.

Kara snorts. “You want me to die of boredom?” Alex smacks her arm and Kara just laughs as she gathers her things and grabs the truck’s keys from the hook by the door. “Love you both, I’ll see you later tonight.” She heads outside and hops into her beat-up truck, starting the engine and listening to it roar to life. Her nerves start to surface as she releases the clutch and starts to drive down the long dirt road, away from the safety of her home. She’s really doing this, she’s really going to go chase after Lena, not knowing whether she even wants to see her or not. It’s the not knowing that’s the hardest part. If she knew where she and Lena stand, it wouldn’t be so bad, but they haven’t spoken in over five months and the last time they did speak, it felt like a goodbye.

Though, Lena had to know that if she came to Midvale, there would be an offhand chance that she’d see Kara. What if she was counting on her being there? That tiny bit of hope fuels her the whole way into town. She pulls up to the large auditorium and finds a parking spot nearby. This is where they have all their major events – concerts, town hall meetings, community barbecues. Banners about today’s event hang from every lamp post and some of them even have Lena’s face on them. She looks good, Kara thinks to herself. Of course, it could be an old photo, but still. Kara can’t help but stare.

“Are you here for Miss Luthor, too?” a tiny voice asks from behind Kara. She whirls around suddenly and sees a young girl staring up at the same banner.

“I am,” she replies. “You too?”

The girl nods. “I want to be a scientist just like her!”

Kara smiles at her and gives her mother and nod. “That’s an admirable goal. She’s quite something, isn’t she?” They talk a bit about what sort of job the girl wants, and she says she wants to be a doctor and cure sick people. The girl’s mother tells her they’d better head inside and grab a seat, so they say goodbye to Kara, who walks inside shortly after. The lobby of the auditorium is filled with people, young and old, and it’s buzzing with energy. One of the attendants hands her a program and she tucks it under her arm before walking around to explore a little more. A commotion comes from further down the way and a big crowd of people is gathered around. Curious, Kara steps closer to see what’s going on and her heart stops when she sees two familiar green eyes and a bright smile shining in the center of the group of people.

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” someone asks Kara. She drags her eyes away from Lena and looks over to her left, seeing a young woman maybe around Nia's age staring at her.

“Um, I don’t think so,” Kara replies nervously.

“No, I do know you. You’re Kara Danvers, right? The baseball player?”

“Oh, yes, that’s me.” The other woman’s eyes widen and her smile grows bigger.

“I knew it! Oh gosh, you’re my hero. I wanted to try out for the league, but I was too young at the time. That game-winning hit? Whew, incredible.” Kara chuckles and rubs the back of her neck while the woman pulls out her program and a pen. “Could I have your autograph?” Taking the pen and paper, Kara quickly scribbles her signature on the inside and hands it back when the lights flicker to indicate that people should start finding their seats.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the crowd where Lena was standing move toward her and she starts to panic. Her breaths become short and her hands feel clammy. She’s not ready to face Lena yet and definitely not ready to do it surrounded by strangers, so she excuses herself and ducks away, heading inside the auditorium to find a seat close to the back to lessen the chances of her being spotted. Once the presentation begins, the lights in the audience are dimmed, making Kara feel a little more at ease. The person speaking introduces Lena by listing off all of her attributes and contributions to society, making a joke that even scientists need to have a little fun once in a while and talks about the Argonauts. The crowd chuckles and applauds once Lena steps out onto the middle of the stage toward the podium.

Lena’s dressed down, forgoing her usual dress and heels and, instead, wearing a pair of high-waisted trousers and a blouse. Her presentation lasts for about an hour and then she opens the floor up for questions, which she answers thoughtfully. When the last question is answered, the auditorium starts to empty, but Kara remains in her seat. She watches Lena walk off the stage and sees another man meet up with her. He gives her a kiss on the cheek and offers his arm for Lena to take, which she does. A mask of confusion covers Kara’s face at the scene, and she wonders who this man is to Lena. Once the man starts parading her around like some sort of trophy – his hand on her back a little too low to be friendly – Kara’s decided she’s seen enough and stands up, heading straight for the exit. 

Lena’s moved on. Of course she has. What disappoints Kara the most, though, is that Lena allowed society to pressure her back into the arms of a man. If anything, she thought Lena would at least fight for herself if she wasn’t going to fight for anyone else.

The drive back to the farm is quiet and the realization that Kara may have seen Lena for the last time finally dawns on her and she has to pull over. Her hands grip the steering wheel of the truck and a choked sob escapes her as she releases all of the sadness she’s been holding in ever since Jeremiah died. She’d taken it upon herself to be the cheery one around the house, to try and make her mother and sister smile, which meant little room for processing her own feelings. Kara had become so used to lifting everyone else up, she never realized it didn’t leave enough strength for herself and now it’s all catching up to her.

When she’s calmed down enough to drive again, she quickly checks the mirror to make sure her face isn’t red with signs of crying. The last thing she needs is her family fussing over her when she gets back. She nearly regrets not saying something to Lena, not making herself known, but she knows it would have just hurt more to talk to her. This way, she can pretend that Lena’s happy and she’s doing well, and knowing that will make letting go easier.

As she drives down the dirt driveway, Alex walks out of the barn to meet her. She doesn’t ask about Lena, but Kara knows she’s curious. They walk inside the house and Eliza is baking a pie and Kara picks up a knife and helps peel the apples. None of them say anything, just letting the silence fill the room.

“She looked happy,” Kara says finally, not taking her eyes off the apple in her hand.

Alex looks over. “Did you talk to her?”

Kara shakes her head. “I couldn’t. Plus, she was there with someone, a man.” She could feel her mother’s eyes on her, but she didn’t have the courage to look up at her, knowing she’d break immediately. “It’s okay, though,” she continues. “I said I just wanted to see her, and I did. Now I can get on with my life.” It’s a valiant attempt at convincing herself that there is life after Lena and maybe one day she’ll actually believe it, but that day is not today.

Just as Eliza’s putting the pie in the oven, they hear one of their dogs barking outside and Alex goes to see what the commotion is about. Kara starts cleaning up and wipes down the counters when she hears the front door creak open again and Alex pokes her head inside.

“Kara, you’d better come out here.”

Kara dries off her hands and steps outside. She sees a fancy looking car at the end of their property and a person walking toward them. The tightness in Kara’s chest takes hold and won’t let go and she feels like she’s suffocating. She’d recognize that figure, that confident walk, that _perfume_ anywhere.

It’s Lena. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all, thanks for your patience. Getting this last chapter out was like pulling teeth. This is the end with an epilogue coming up (hopefully it won't take as long). I just wanted to thank you all for reading, giving kudos, rec'ing, what-have-you. I appreciate you all more than you know. Enjoy.

Lena spends the first month away from National City in Ivy Town with Sara and Ava. They show her all of the hip places in the city and it’s the first time she’s felt so carefree. No one bats an eye at them, and people don’t care when Sara grabs Ava’s hand and pulls her onto the dancefloor. No one cares when they sway slowly back and forth and look into each other’s eyes like they’re the only ones in the bar. It makes Lena wish she’d done so many things differently, but she’s convinced herself that it’s too late and she’s burned those bridges to the ground.

Pulling her out of her thoughts, Ava runs over to her and grabs her hand, dragging her out to dance while Sara laughs and pulls her over, too. They laugh and drink the night away, and Lena nearly forgets why she’s there in the first place. That feeling is short-lived once Lena arrives back at her hotel room, alone. After pouring herself a drink, she sits on the edge of the bed and stares down at her hands grasping the glass like a lifeline. She looks over at the nightstand where the telephone sits and stares at it intently. She downs the entirety of her drink and walks over to it, picking up the receiver and dialing the operator. When the tinny voice of a woman asks her who she’d like to dial, Lena freezes and hangs up.

“Coward,” she mutters to herself and stands to refill her glass. She hasn’t spoken to anyone in National City in weeks and, as much as she’s tried, she can’t get them out of her mind. She misses Jack, misses teasing him and rolling her eyes at him after he makes some catty comment about something or another. She misses… her. Kara’s name hasn’t floated across her lips since she moved. It hurts too much. Sara and Ava haven’t pushed her to talk about it, but they know there’s a deep, searing pain that’s lodged itself into Lena’s heart and won’t let go.

For the next few weeks, Lena works on figuring out what her next step is. She accompanies Sara and Ava to their baseball camp for young girls, where they teach them the fundamentals of the sport and it gives Lena an idea. She could do the same, but with science. It’s something she would have loved to have as a child, something other than etiquette classes and tutors who only taught her what Lillian wanted her to learn. When she was old enough, she would secretly check out books from the library and study things on her own. She learned about physics, biology, statistics, calculus, and a whole slew of other subjects. By the time she was sent to boarding school, she already had the education of a college student.

While Lionel recognized her intelligence, Lillian ignored it and continued to treat her like a prop for the company, and the most support Lex ever showed for her education was teaching her how to play chess. Lena remembers the first time she beat Lex, he had such a proud look on his face, but also remembers when Lillian had chastised him for losing after he told her about it. Even after Lena took over L-Corp and succeeded in bringing the company’s stocks up and cleaning up their family’s name, Lillian never acknowledged it, never said she was proud. It made Lena try even harder to earn the respect of her mother.

That’s the reason why Lena is always so hellbent on succeeding in everything she does – even relationships. If she feels a relationship or friendship is hindering her success, she cuts herself off. With Kara, she was afraid that being romantically involved with another woman will make it that much harder for her to be seen as the head of a company, but in the end, it didn’t even matter. Lex still replaced her, because, at the end of the day, Lena was still a woman and that was, apparently, her worst attribute.

In any case, she decides that if no one wants to take her seriously, she’ll teach other girls and women that their worth isn’t held in their breasts or uterus, but in their minds. If she learned anything from the past year, it’s that she was more than her name and more than her body parts, and she wanted others to recognize that, as well. She brainstorms with Sara and Ava for the next couple weeks and they help her come up with a game plan. They tell her that smaller cities will likely need more convincing, because they aren’t exposed to as many liberal ideals as larger cities are, so Lena plans out a route that will take her across the country, visiting as many towns as she can.

The only person she speaks to is Jess, asking for her help in planning and getting the logistics in order. Jess, ever the loyal (ex)employee, readily agrees and starts mapping out her tour, sending a map via express post to Lena once she’s done. Once it arrives, she spreads the map out across her bed and looks at what Jess has compiled for her. As her finger runs across the red line marked across the page, it stops at the dot where Midvale sits and she sighs. This is either Jess’ idea of a cruel joke, or she’s trying to give her a not-so-subtle hint.

Walking over to her phone, she dials operator and asks to be patched through, waiting as it rings twice.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Jess, why is there a stop in Midvale?”

“ _Oh, hello, Miss Luthor. You said you wanted to go to smaller towns._ ”

Lena clears her throat and tightens her grip on the receiver. “I did, but you know who lives in Midvale. If this is a ploy to get us together, you can—”

“ _Miss Luthor, sorry to cut you off, but I’m not plotting anything. Midvale has the highest ratio of women to men in California for its population and it’s a completely appropriate town to stop in, but if you’d like me to take it off the itinerary, I will_.”

Swallowing her guilt, Lena sighs and rubs her aching forehead. “No, Jess, I apologize. You’re right. We’ll keep Midvale. Now, I’d also like to talk about having someone accompany me on the tour.”

* * *

After taking the rest of the week to prepare, Lena is finally ready to start the first leg of her science tour. A driver arrives to pick her up and her bags are loaded up into the car. Sara and Ava came by to see her off and both give her a hug and some words of encouragement before she climbs into the car that’s about to take her on her next journey. As they head toward the edge of the city limits, Lena stares out of the window and gazes at the skyline of the city. It’s probably going to be a while before she sees something like that again. She suspects that most of the towns she’s going to visit will be more rural and farmland, but that’s exactly what she wants – to not be recognized everywhere she goes, to not have scrutinizing glances in every corner of the room. If there’s a chance that she can just simply be _Lena_ , she’s going to take it.

Her first stop is a small town appropriately called Smallville. She meets with the mayor, who tells her that she’s been set up inside of their community hall, which looks like it will fit around twenty people. Lena supposes she has to start somewhere. As she’s getting ready, hanging up some posters and putting her notes on the podium, she hears a bellowing _Lena, honey!_ coming from the front door and smiles.

“Winslow,” she says happily. “I’m glad you could make it.”

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Winn?” he replies and kisses both of Lena’s cheeks. “And I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to escort you around rural America and visit places like…” he squints at the map hanging on the wall, “Smallville. How quaint. Remind me why I’m here again.”

“You’re here as my chaperone, and to keep the vultures from the newspapers off my ass with questions about potential boyfriends or husbands and the like.”

“Ah,” Winn smiles slyly. “The old misdirection trick. Say no more.” He gives the side of his nose a tap.

Lena met Winn at one of the parties her family threw, on the arm of Andrea Rojas, who _everyone_ knew preferred the company of women, but she was so intimidating that no one ever questioned her about it. After a rather awkward encounter with Andrea, cornered in the back of one of the offices, she offered Lena Winn’s business card and said if she ever needed his services, to give him a call. She then proceeded to lean in close to Lena’s ear and whispered for her to also give her a call if she needed any of _her_ services.

Lena took her up on it once, and it was fine. Slightly better than fine. She certainly didn’t have a gentle hand like Kara. Anyway, Winn is there, so she won’t be harassed non-stop about her love life, which, in hindsight, is probably going to backfire on her, because the newspapers are only going to talk about her new beau. She sighs internally and tries to make the most of it, because it’s really too late to send Winn away now after making him travel all the way to Smallville, and it would be nice to have someone else on the trip with her.

The first presentation draws in a meager crowd of about fifteen people, most of who are waiting for Bingo Night to start. Still, Lena perseveres and finishes her talk and hopes that any press in the audience will be able to spread the word before they move on to the next town. Winn does his job well and is charming the pants off of everyone he comes into contact with. He makes sure to always have a hand on Lena’s back or have her arm linked around his when they speak with people and she feels a little guilty about it. She feels like she’s hiding again and she doesn’t like it. All of that was supposed to be over and done with once she handed the company over to Lex.

Old habits do die hard.

By the time they make it to Texas, Lena’s hit her stride and she knows exactly how to approach the audience and get people to pay attention. She’s met hundreds of young girls and their families, each with their own strengths and dreams of becoming scientists ‘just like her’. Winn pulls off his duty perfectly, acting like the proud, doting boyfriend and talking Lena up every chance he gets.

“Did you all know that Miss Luthor here singlehandedly saved an entire species of bees?”

The little girls surrounding him widen their eyes as big as saucers and Lena stifles a laugh beside him. Just as they’re about to leave, a man walks up to them, holding a pen and pad of paper.

“Miss Luthor, who’s the new sweetheart?”

“Winslow Schott Jr., at your service,” Winn says with gusto, offering his hand for a handshake. The report takes it and writes something down.

“It’s good to see you out and about, Miss Luthor, after all of that hullabaloo with your family and company.”

Lena presses her lips together and musters up a smile. “Yes, I felt it was time to step out of the very long shadow that both my mother and brother cast and start doing my own work. And Winn, here, has been instrumental in making sure I don’t work myself to death, haven’t you, darling?”

“Yes, absolutely,” Winn says proudly.

The reported closes his notepad and puts it back into his jacket. “Well, then, I guess we can put all those other rumors to bed, eh? Glad to see you’re still playing on the correct side, Miss Luthor.” He tips his hat and walks toward the exit and Lena’s frozen in place, her eyes locked straight ahead.

“Uh, Lena, are you okay?” Winn asks hesitantly.

Lena blinks and shakes her head a little. “Fine. Let’s go, I’m starving.” She walks briskly out the door and hails a cab while Winn catches up.

The article that gets written about her is about as good as she expects. Not only is her work overshadowed by her new ‘boyfriend,’ they can’t seem to stop talking about the Luthor legacy and how she is no longer a part of it. Eventually, the news dies down and she’s able to travel without every single person looking at her with pity when she and Winn walk into the auditoriums. But what really gets to her is that she keeps seeing heads of familiar blonde hair and swearing it’s someone that it isn’t. She thinks she’s going crazy, that she’s seeing things, but it isn’t possible, because they’re hundreds of miles from Midvale and there’s no reason for Kara to be there. She still looks for her, though.

As they gradually make their way over to the west coast, Lena’s apprehension begins to show. She doesn’t sleep much and just reads through her speeches over and over, with a glass of wine in her hand, even though she could probably recite them backwards and forwards from memory. The next week passes by in a blur and, before she knows it, Lena and Winn arrive in Midvale. The fresh air coming through the car’s window is invigorating and cool as it whips across Lena’s face. _Maybe it won’t be so bad_ , she thinks to herself while watching the rows of fruit trees and cornfields fly by.

That feeling evaporates immediately once they check into the hotel and Lena gets the same room that she had when she and Jess were there last to recruit the Danvers sisters. All she can envision is a blonde tossing hay bales from the back of the old beat up truck, milking a cow, and muddy shoes. That leads her to remember nights sharing a beer, to the almost kiss, to the actual kiss, and then, unfortunately, the night she would never forget. She hates her photographic memory sometimes, hates that she can remember every freckle on Kara’s body and the crinkles that form on the corners of her eyes when she smiles. She especially hates that she’s back in Midvale, but it’s still the furthest away from Kara that she’s ever felt.

Thankfully, the day of her presentation comes quickly and she meets Winn in the lobby and they head to the small community hall together. Lena’s surprised to see a crowd of people waiting out in the lobby and when they see her, they all run up, shouting her name.

“It’s her! It’s Lena Luthor!”

“She put Midvale on the map when she recruited the Danvers sisters to her baseball team!”

“Your brother’s no match for you!”

Lena smiles at them all politely and signs autographs while she answers questions. Many of the young girls there are like the others she’s met, telling her they want to be like her and that they finally feel like it’s okay to be studious and want something more out of life.

When she looks up, she sees a blonde ponytail that looks just like—no, she wouldn’t be here. Another program is shoved into her face to sign and by the time she’s finished, the woman is gone.

“Okay, girls, it’s time for Miss Luthor to get ready,” Winn says, and Lena gives him a grateful smile. They head toward backstage and she meets with the mayor, who welcomes her and says he’ll make a short introduction. Lena nods and thanks him and she waits with Winn while the mayor walks out onto the stage and waits for the applause to die down before he introduces his guest. Winn must be able to pick up on her nerves and gives her arm a squeeze.

“You’re going to do great,” he says with a comforting smile. Lena doesn’t have time to respond, because she hears her name being called out and another loud round of applause erupts through the hall. She walks out with her chin lifted and she tosses a wave out to the crowd as she steps up to the podium. Looking around, she tries to find the blonde woman she saw earlier in the lobby, but the lights are bright in her face and she can’t see past the first couple of rows. Giving up, she begins her talk and fixes to shape these young minds just like the others.

Once the presentation is done, Lena walks down to greet more people and speak with them and Winn stands next to her and kisses her on the cheek before acting like the doting boyfriend. Lena stays and watches every person either walk up to her, or stares at the exits to see if she can spot _her_. By the time the last person leaves, Lena lets out an exhausted sigh and Winn offers to buy her lunch.

“Thanks, but I think I’ll just get room service. I’m beat.” Part of her had hoped that Kara would be there and not seeing her disappointed her more than she thought it would. She was in no mood to humor Winn and all of his tales of job. They walk into the hotel lobby and Winn says he’s going to stop by the bar and bids Lena a good afternoon.

Once she arrives at her room, she immediately phones down to the concierge and asks for a meal and a bottle of their most expensive wine to be sent up. Lena supposes she has enough time to take a quick bath, so she heads to the bathroom to undress and runs the water. She slides into the tub and allows herself to rest her weary bones, but she must doze off, because when there’s a knock on her hotel room door, the water has gotten significantly colder. She jumps out and quickly wraps a bathrobe around herself before opening the door. Her lunch is wheeled in and she tips the bellhop before he leaves.

Lifting the cloche, she inhales the scent of chicken à la King with mashed potatoes and green beans and realizes she hasn’t eaten anything since the piece of toast she had for breakfast. She pops open the bottle of wine and pours herself a glass before digging in. With her belly full and her wine bottle two-thirds empty, she starts letting her thoughts wander. Naturally, they go directly to Kara, to what they had, however briefly. She hates that she can’t think of anything else, but when she hasn’t felt that amount of happiness ever in her life, it’s bound to attach itself like a bloodsucking leech.

Staring at the bottle of wine, she forgoes the glass and drinks straight from the bottle, no longer caring about propriety. Then, in a drunken moment of weakness, she picks up her phone and waits for the operator to ask her who she’d like to call.

“Jack Spheer, National City, please.”

After the operator connects the call, a gruff _hello_ comes from the other side. Lena’s missed Jack’s voice and all of his ridiculous antics. She regrets pushing him away, but every reminder of National City and the Argonauts caused her so much grief.

“Jack,” she says quietly. Jack doesn’t say anything for a few seconds, likely wondering if he’s really that drunk.

“Lena? Is that you?” Nearly bursting into tears, she says _yes_ , and waits for his reply. She hears something rustling and then Jack swears under his breath and it sounds like he’s putting clothes on. “God, it’s so good to hear your voice. I’ve been keeping up with you in the news, sounds like you’ve been pretty successful. How are you?”

“It’s been good, really good. These girls are so excited and eager to learn. I can’t wait to see where they all end up.”

Jack clears his throat. “I, uh, also see you’ve been traveling with a companion?”

Lena knew this would come up. He doesn’t sound accusatory, more curious. “Yes, he’s a friend. I wanted to keep the reporters out of my love life, so having Winn around is just for that. The newspapers only mentioned it for a day and then it was forgotten.”

“And you’re in Midvale now?”

Lena clenches her jaw. “I am.”

“Have you seen her?”

“I thought—no, I haven’t. I’m not surprised.” She’s aware she sounds pitiful and self-loathing, but it isn’t the first drunken conversation that she and Jack have shared.

“You should go visit her.” Jack’s voice is gentle, like he’s trying to coax an animal out of hiding. “You’ve been to her farm before. Maybe she’d want to see you.”

Lena scoffs. “Would you want to see someone who broke your heart? Honestly, Jack, she probably uses my photos as target practice.”

“I highly doubt that,” replies Jack. “I saw the way she looked at you when you weren’t paying attention. She’d never want anything to happen to that beautiful face of yours. Look, all I’m saying is that you need closure, otherwise this is going to be your life until the day you die. You’re going to spend your life regretting this one thing, this one person. If she’s just a girl, there will be others out there, but you have to let go of Kara first.”

Lena listens to Jack’s words, plays them and replays them in her mind. The thing is, she can’t picture herself with anyone but Kara. She doesn’t want to. No one has understood her or made her feel the way Kara has, and while it is true that their encounter was brief, Lena’s made up her mind that Kara is it for her. There’s no one else.

“She’s not just a girl, Jack. I think… I think she’s _the_ girl.”

There’s a pause, and Jack asks one of the simplest questions that Lena’s ever heard: “Then what are you waiting for?”

* * *

Lena calls Winn’s room and tells him that she needs to use the car, but she shouldn’t be long. This will go either one of two ways: Kara or Alex will see her and immediately shut the door in her face, or Kara will see her and a grin will spread across her face and she’ll run up to her, hug her and cup her cheeks in her hands and tell her how much she missed Lena. One of those is more likely to happen than the other, however, but Jack is right, and she does need closure if she intends to ever move on.

She walks out to the valet and has them bring the car around and asks for directions to the Danvers farm before she leaves. It’s going to be about a twenty-minute drive out of the main town and she hopes someone will be there when she arrives. Best case scenario is that Eliza is there, worst case scenario is only Alex is there. She sees the top of the red barn before reaching the long, dirt, driveway and pulls in. Time is running out and she needs to figure out what she’s going to say. Parking at the far end of the driveway, she’s greeted by a large bloodhound barking at the car, so she sits and waits for a minute. There’s someone walking around outside and she’s not sure who it is, but they call after the dog and look in her direction.

The person walks back into the house and Lena steps out of the car, dressed in blue jeans and a pair of boots this time, learning from her previous mistake with her heels. By the time she’s about halfway down the driveway, the door to the house swings open again and she sees Kara emerge with Alex standing behind her. The look of disbelief on Kara’s face makes Lena want to run up to her and throw herself into the other woman’s arms, but she holds back and gives a tentative smile instead.

“What are you doing here?” Alex asks before Kara can say anything. She just looks down at her feet and crosses her arms.

“I came to talk to Kara,” Lena replies, standing as tall as she can and putting on her best CEO face. She’s not taking no for an answer.

“What if she doesn’t want to talk to you?” Alex presses and Kara’s frown deepens before her jaw clenches.

“I can speak for myself,” Kara snaps and Alex’s eyes widen. She turns to face her older sister and whispers something before pulling her in for a hug and Alex nods, looks at Lena once more, and retreats into the house. Turning back towards her, Kara walks down the front steps and tips her head to the side. “Want to take a walk?”

Lena nods and they start walking to the barn. Now that she’s actually there, Lena has no idea where to start.

“I swear I saw someone who looked just like you at my presentation,” she blurts out. “But it couldn’t have been, right? There’s no reason you would have been there.”

Kara kicks a few rocks with her boot and wipes her brow. “Actually, I was there.”

Lena stops in her tracks and looks at Kara, who’s staring straight back at her. “You were there?”

“I was.” The blonde Lena saw probably _was_ Kara, after all. Knowing that she was there watching her filled her with so much confusing joy and pride. “I also saw you with that man,” Kara adds.

“Oh, right, that’s Winn. He’s a friend,” Lena says, swallowing thickly. She doesn’t want to admit that she had to hire someone to make it look like she wasn’t a homosexual, like she was still hiding and afraid of who she is. That wouldn’t earn her any points with Kara.

“A friend?” Kara asks inquisitively as they reach the door to the barn.

“Yes, just a friend to accompany me on the trip, that’s all.” They stop walking and Kara turns to face Lena before letting out a sigh and throwing her hands into her pockets.

“Listen, Lena, I don’t know why—”

“No, Kara,” Lena interrupts. “I need to say something before I lose my nerve. Please.” Kara’s mouth shuts immediately, and she nods. Lena fidgets with her hands as her heart begins to race. She’s about to do something she’s never done before with anyone, and it scares her to death. If Kara doesn’t forgive her, if she still sends Lena away, she knows that this is it. She will never have another chance at true happiness. She takes a deep breath and jumps all the way in. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few months, and I realized how much of a mess I’ve made of everything. I let my family and my status dictate my life and my happiness, causing me to push people I care about away for years.

“And I hurt you, I know I did, and I’m sorry. I just want you to know that I think you’re incredible and you deserve to be happy and to have a life filled with love. You deserve to be with someone who’s proud to be with you and not afraid. I spent some time with Sara and Ava, and they showed me what life could be like if I just let everything go, if I just released myself from expectations and the fear I’ve held onto for so long.

“I guess what I’m trying to say is letting go of you was the single biggest mistake I’ve made in my entire life. So, I’m here, fighting for you. Fighting for us. And, I—I love you, Kara. I wasn’t sure if that was even something I was allowed to do, something I _could_ do, but hell, now that I’ve actually said it out loud, nothing feels more right _. I love you_.”

She stops speaking then, feeling her whole body shaking with adrenaline and realizing how vulnerable she feels, wishing she could evaporate and float away back to the hotel and fetch Winn, so they can escape to their next destination. Kara’s quiet, unmoving with her brow furrowed, and Lena’s afraid that she said the wrong thing. Did she lose her again?

“Do you mean that? Are you sure?” Kara says, finally. Her voice is just above a whisper and her head is bowed forward, the bill of her hat covering her eyes. When she looks up, Lena can see how watery Kara’s eyes are, a dam so close to breaking.

Lena takes a cautious step forward. “I’ve never been more certain about something in my entire life.”

“What about what others will think?”

Cupping Kara’s cheek and letting her thumb stroke it, Lena smiles. “All I care about is you and what you think. Damn all the rest.”

Kara bends down a little and wraps her hands around Lena’s thighs, scooping her up and carrying her into the barn. Lena squeaks in surprise as she’s carried and gently laid onto a pile of hay, grateful that she went with the jeans and boots this time. Kara removes her hat and her hair drapes down, tickling Lena’s neck while they stare into each other’s eyes.

“I missed you,” Kara whispers.

“I missed you, too,” replies Lena, her breath hiccupping in her chest as she stifles a sob. “I’m so sorry.”

Kara hushes her and leans in to kiss her gently. This feels _so right_ to Lena. She can’t fathom how she ever thought kissing Kara could be wrong. Her hands slide behind Kara’s unbuttoned flannel shirt and wrap around her back. Lena grips Kara and pulls her closer, wanting to feel the weight of her body on her. The second she feels Kara slide her knee between her legs, a switch flips inside of Lena and her movements become hurried and frantic. She grabs onto Kara’s flannel and pulls it off her shoulders. Kara sits up and takes it off the rest of the way while she starts to unbutton Lena’s shirt and Lena starts working the button and zipper of the blonde’s jeans.

“Oh, geez, okay,” Kara says breathlessly with a gleeful smile once she sees the bare expanse of flushed skin beneath her. She leans forward again and attaches her lips to Lena’s jaw, nipping and sucking the skin down her neck, to her chest, and down to the valley of her breasts.

Lena lets out a breathy moan and pushes her hips up to find friction against Kara’s leg, tugging at her belt loops to bring her closer. Just as Kara’s about to pull down the cups of her bra, footsteps approach.

“Hey, Kara—oh, my _God_!”

“Alex?!” Kara exclaims, throwing her body on top of Lena’s, a pitiful attempt to cover them both. “What are you—what do you want?”

“Jesus, right in front of Mike?” Lena looks behind them and realizes the cow has been standing on the opposite side of the barn, minding her own business the entire time. Alex is still standing at the door of the barn with her hand covering her eyes. “Ma wanted to know if Lena wanted to stay for supper, but it looks like you’re already getting a meal.”

“Christ almighty,” Kara mutters. She buttons Lena’s shirt back up and zips up her own pants. Kara’s still wearing her undershirt and picks up her flannel before standing and helping Lena up. “You hungry?” she asks while looking at her apologetically.

“Um, sure,” Lena says, still mortified that they got caught and feeling like a teenager.

“Make sure you clean up first,” Alex says, not looking either one of them in the eye and walking away. “And apologize to Mike!” she yells behind her.

“Sorry, Mike,” the both of them say.

* * *

Thankfully, their tryst isn’t mentioned at the dinner table and Eliza happily brings out a pot roast from the oven while Kara mashes some potatoes on the counter. They all talk about their days and Eliza asks Lena what she’s been up to the past few months. She mentions her tour across the United States and her dream of teaching young girls about science. Lena’s grateful that they don’t seem to hold any ill will toward her after what she did to Kara and it’s a small blessing. She hopes that, in time, she can explain herself to Alex and Eliza and be welcomed into the family. As she continues talking, the three other women listen with rapt attention until they’re interrupted by a knock on their door. Alex stands up to see who it is and it’s Richie, their neighbor.

“Y'all gotta turn on your radio,” he says in a hurry before running back to his own home. Eliza eyes crinkle and she walks over to the radio and turns it on.

_… That’s right, folks. The war is over!_

Kara turns to her mother and sister and hugs them both close. Alex pulls Lena in and they all cry together in relief and happiness. After some celebratory pie, Lena and Kara take a nighttime drive out to an empty field and sit in the back of Kara’s truck while they look up at the starry sky. It’s a cool, autumn night and Lena’s wearing Kara’s flannel over her shoulders.

Kara breaks their comfortable silence. “I, um, I read your story.”

“My—” Lena’s face turns white as a sheet. She’d forgotten in the first few months of trying to figure out what she was going to do with the rest of her life, she dabbled in writing fictional erotica to try and let off some steam. She wasn’t getting any, so fake people should at least be able to. Maybe she was projecting. Sue her. “Oh, _god._ ”

“I especially liked the part with the, er, ‘milky white br—‘”

Lena slaps a hand over Kara’s mouth. “Not another word, Danvers. I don’t even want to know how you got ahold of it.”

Kara smiles beneath the soft hand on her mouth and Lena can see it in her eyes. When she lowers her hand, Kara is still smiling and has an inquisitive look on her face. It makes Lena nervous, makes her feel like she’s being examined under a microscope.

“What?” she whispers.

“You’re just… so beautiful,” Kara sighs. Lena ducks her head and doesn’t know how to respond. She’s never really been able to accept compliments, likely a result of having a stepmother who wouldn’t dare give her illegitimate child something worth holding onto, not when she believed that the young girl held no worth within the family. _Couldn’t you have at least been a boy_ she would spit at her whenever Lena did something that didn’t please Lillian. Her thoughts drift away like a puff of foggy breath in the cold when Kara tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and rests her hand under her jaw.

“Kara,” Lena says as her eyes drift up to meet the other woman’s.

“Yes?” Kara replies, her face shrouded in moonlight just enough that Lena can see the freckles that line dot across her cheeks and nose.

“Kiss me?”

It’s a request that only needs to be asked once as Kara dips her head forward and captures Lena’s lips between her own. It feels both familiar and new, kissing Kara again, and for possibly the first time, there’s no voice in the back of her head telling her to run. Kara shifts and lowers Lena onto the blanket they’re sitting on, placing a jacket underneath her head. 

“I would have brought pillows, but I didn’t want to be presumptuous,” Kara jokes. Lena smiles up at her and chews on her bottom lip.

“I wish you would have been,” Lena replies, her voice low. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t think about Kara like this – eyes half-opened, lazy smile, desire written all over her face. It makes something swirl and swoop in the pit of her stomach, makes her wonder if Kara ever thought about her this way, too, in the past few months.

“I haven’t been with anyone else,” she says suddenly and Kara’s eyes widen slightly and the admission. “Since you, I mean.” Her face is getting warm and she immediately regrets saying anything, but with the way Kara asked about Winn, she wants to be clear.

“Oh,” Kara responds, “me neither. Aside from Mike, that is. She keeps me busy.”

Lena laughs lightly and pulls Kara back down to her, their lips meeting once again and Kara slots herself between Lena’s legs. Kara’s hand rests on Lena’s hip as she leans on the other, the blonde’s face hovering closely above hers. The hand that was on Lena’s hip reaches up to cup her cheek, Kara’s thumb stroking it and running across her bottom lip.

“I missed you,” Kara says earnestly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I still can’t believe you’re here.”

“I’m so sorry if I ever made you question what you meant to me,” Lena says, her tears threatening to pour over, as well. Kara quiets her with a kiss and touches their foreheads together.

“Stop apologizing. You had a lot of pressure on you and, while, yes, I was hurt when you traded me without even discussing anything with me beforehand, I know Edge forced your hand.”

Lena breaks her gaze and turns her head off to the side. “You’re too good, Kara. Too good for me.”

“No, don’t do that,” Kara implores, turning Lena’s head back towards her. “You deserve happiness. Okay? I know it’s hard to believe when everyone you’ve ever met has automatically decided that you’re never going to live up to the potential of a man in your same position. You’ve had to prove yourself over and over again to them, show them you’re worth more than they could ever imagine. Well, _I_ know your worth and you have nothing to prove to me.”

And just like that, it feels like weight she's held onto for years evaporated and she’s seeing clearly for the first time since… ever. Kara’s made it clear that Lena can be herself when they’re together. No more hiding behind her job title or her name. No more pretending she’ll eventually marry old money and have enough children to continue the Luthor bloodline, even though Lex’s blood would be more precious in that regard.

With Kara, Lena is free.

Her emotions get the better of her and she grabs onto Kara’s neck desperately, kissing her hard and deep, pushing her tongue across the seam of Kara’s lips until she opens her mouth wider. She can feel Kara trying to pull back, to slow things down, but they’ve waited long enough.

“Lena, slow down. Are you sure you want this? There’s no rush.”

Lena looks right into Kara’s eyes, seeing how dilated her pupils are. They both want it; she just needs to convince Kara that she does. She takes one of Kara’s hands and slides it beneath her shirt, the blonde’s eyes widening as big as a full moon. With her hand on top, Lena squeezes their hands around her breast.

“I want this,” she husks, and with that, Kara surges forward and kisses Lena. It’s almost as if a rubberband snapped and something has broken through Kara’s apprehension. She’s everywhere, her hands under Lena’s shirt, running down her sides; Kara’s lips attach to Lena’s neck, marking every inch and counting each freckle. She sits up suddenly and starts to unbutton her shirt and Lena removes hers at the same time, undoing her pants afterwards. She’s dreamed about this moment for months, waiting for Kara to put her hands on her once more. She was foolish to ever throw this away, to let this feeling of euphoria slip out of her hands. Never again. Kara is going to be hers forever if she has anything to say about it.

In the frantic haze of their disrobing, Kara pauses with her hands at the band of Lena’s pants, once again waiting for her permission to continue. With a devilish look, Lena nods and Kara peels them down slowly, holding eye contact. After folding them and placing them off to the side, Kara lies down next to Lena with her head resting on her arm. She traces random patterns down Lena’s stomach and across her hips, a chill running down her spine.

“Are you cold?” she asks, feeling the goosebumps start to rise on her skin.

“A little. Maybe you should keep me warm,” Lena replies with a wry smile. Kara smiles back and kisses her softly, her hand moving lower, rubbing the inside of her thigh. Her hips jerk to try and get Kara to move her hand where she wants it, but the blonde seems hellbent on torturing her and instead trails her fingertips down the other leg.

“ _Kara_ ,” Lena whines, one hand gripping the blanket beneath her tightly.

“Soon, let me memorize you first,” Kara replies, bringing her hand back up to Lena’s hip, up her ribs, ghosting touches around her breast and circling her thumb around a nipple hardened by a mixture of the cool air and arousal. Lena brings her legs together and rubs them against each other, trying to alleviate some of the pressure she feels in her core.

Finally, Kara spreads them apart once again and slides her fingers through the slick folds, rubbing small circles around her clit. Lena hisses out a _yes_ and tosses her head back, nearly hitting it on the edge of the truck. Kara’s eyes don’t leave hers as she enters her with a single digit. Lena’s mouth drops open as she feels Kara pull out slowly and enters her again with two fingers this time, watching the muscles in her forearm tighten. She wants to thrust her hips up to pull Kara deeper, but she resists, letting the other woman explore and drag out different gasps and sounds from Lena’s throat. Her first orgasm comes quickly as soon as Kara’s mouth latches onto her nipple and she wishes they were on a soft bed and not the hard back of a truck. She knows she’s going to feel it in the morning, but honestly doesn’t care as long as Kara keeps touching her.

“Another?” Kara asks, kissing up Lena’s jaw and placing one last one behind her ear, causing a chill to run down her body.

“Yes, yes, put your mouth on me,” Lena begs.

Kara grins and raises an eyebrow. “I thought I already was.” Lena doesn’t reply and just pushes Kara’s head down until she practically falls off the truck and squeaks out an _oop!_

Once Kara pulls Lena to the edge of the truck bed and puts her legs over her shoulders, she wastes no time and fulfills Lena’s earlier request. She lets her tongue glide across Lena’s sex, tasting her, as Lena’s back arches and her hips roll forward. A hand slides through blonde hair and scratches at the back of her scalp encouragingly as sharp, breathy moans leave her parted lips.

Lena screws her eyes shut, even though she knows Kara hasn’t taken her eyes off her. It leaves her too vulnerable, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. She feels Kara rubbing her thumb over her hip and she hazards a glance down at her. Never before has she seen such a look of adoration on someone’s face that’s half-covered by her privates.

The second Kara’s tongue circles her swollen bud and her lips wrap around it, Lena’s taking the Lord’s name in vain for the second time that night and she knows it’s only the beginning. Kara climbs back onto the truck and lies next to Lena, catching her breath and smiling radiantly.

“You don’t have to look so smug,” Lena jokes, closing her eyes and slowing down her own heartrate. She feels Kara cuddle up to her and throws a leg over hers, jeans scratching against her skin. “Why do you still have Levi’s on?”

“I didn’t want to scratch up my knees on the grass,” Kara replies weakly. That just won’t do. Lena sits up and starts unbuckling Kara’s belt.

“Golly,” Kara squeals as her zipper is lowered and her jeans ripped down her legs. The look on Lena’s face could be best described as ‘hungry’ and Kara looks like a deer in headlights. Lena must pick up on her uncertainty and pauses.

“We don’t have to do anything if you’re feeling uncomfortable,” she offers. “I just want to make you feel good.”

“I—um, is it okay if I’m on top?” Kara asks nervously.

Lena smiles. “Of course, darling.” She lies down on her back and waits for Kara to climb on top. When she does, she places one of Lena’s legs between hers and Lena quickly understands what she wants. She bends her leg up until her knee meets Kara’s core and she lets out a breathy sigh. Once their situated, Kara starts grinding down on Lena’s leg, harsh breaths coming out of her nose and her eyes screwed shut. “Sweetheart, look at me,” Lena says, cupping the blonde’s cheek. Kara’s eyes open with a look so tender that Lena nearly melts. “Is this feeling good?”

Kara nods. “Feels good. ‘m close.” Her hips start jerking faster and more erratically.

“That’s it. Let go, Kara,” Lena says encouragingly and then Kara’s body goes stiff and she releases a few more grunts while she rides out her orgasm. When she collapses, Lena cradles her head and threads her fingers through Kara’s hair soothingly and plants a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

“Wow,” Kara exhales. “That’s the hardest I’ve ever done… _that_.”

Lena chuckles. “Good, then I have something to compare it to for future reference.” They get dressed again and drive back to the farm, Kara holding Lena’s hand the entire way. When they park, Kara jumps out quickly and runs over to the passenger side to open the door. Lena smiles bashfully and thanks her, and they walk up to the house together. The kitchen light is still on, indicating that Eliza or Alex are probably still awake. Lena hopes it’s neither and they can sneak in without getting the third degree. But, no such luck. Kara walks through the door and both women are sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for them. Alex grins knowingly at them and Eliza looks like she’s about to cry tears of joy.

Kara leans over to Lena and whispers, “I hope you’re ready to be interrogated like a teenager.”

And, honestly, Lena’s ready for anything if it means she gets to spend her life with Kara and have her family’s blessing. They ask about Lena’s traveling and if she’s ready to settle down; they wonder if she’s fit to live a farmer’s life, but Kara insists she doesn’t need to stop doing what she’s doing. Lena tells them she’s ready to live a life that she’s in control of and assures them that Kara is part of that. She promises to finish her tour of the West Coast and, afterwards, she’ll come back to Midvale, which she does.

They spend a month just basking in each other’s company, working on the farm, until Lena comes up with the idea of building a school that focuses on science and engineering, particularly for young girls, but open to everyone. She names the school after Jeremiah Danvers and their mascot are the Argonauts. Her mother calls at least once a month to tell her that she’s wasting her life and that podunk town in the middle of nowhere, but Lena’s happier than she’s ever been.

* * *

One summer, Maggie, Kelly, Sam, and little Ruby all come to visit, and they convince Alex to go traveling the country with them. It’s doesn’t take too much coaxing once Kara convinces her that she can take care of the farm on her own. Once they return a couple months later, the quartet buy a house next to the Danvers residence and frequently come over for dinner. Kara doesn’t question what they get up to, especially after that time she went over to deliver a pie that she and Ruby had made together, and she heard… _sounds_ , sounds that she remembers Lena making when Kara was—anyway, she doesn’t ask questions, because ignorance is bliss.

It’s like they’re all a big, happy, extended family and Lena is grateful for it. She never thought that managing a baseball team would give her any of this and she no longer resents her father for leaving it to her. Her relationship with her mother and brother remains somewhat strained, but they’re cordial to one another. Lena even invites them to come visit, fully knowing her mother wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of jeans and boots, but Lex comes by and is put through the cityslicker hazing ritual of milking Mike.

Lena’s comfortable. She’s comfortable and _happy_ , so when Kara asks her if she’d like to go to the Midvale Mudskippers baseball field for some batting practice, she agrees, because she’d do anything for Kara.

After unpacking all their gear, Kara rolls out the pitching machine like the one they used in National City and loads up a bucket of balls. She lets Lena bat first and after a few swings, she hits her first ball on her own. Afterwards, Kara steps up to the plate and waits for the machine to pitch her ball and Kara starts swinging. It looks like she’s aiming for something specific over center field near the scoring billboard and she finally hits it once and a banner falls down. A breath gets stuck in Lena’s chest as she reads it.

_Will you marry me?_

She turns to face Kara, who’s bending down on one knee with her hands outstretched and holding a small box. “I know we had a rough start, but I can’t see myself loving anyone but you for the rest of my life. I also know it’s not exactly legal, but I would love nothing more than to call you my wife, even if it’s only in the privacy of our own home. I’d love to be the pitcher to your catcher—wait, not like that. I’ll be your biggest fan, your cheerleader, whatever you need. What do ya say? Want to play ball with me forever?”

Lena just looks down at Kara and puts both hands on her cheeks, smiling with watery eyes. “Of course I do, you goof.” She pulls Kara up to her feet and kisses her, hugging her tighter, until she hears a commotion coming from the field. Pulling back, she looks around and sees a group of people walking toward her. It’s the entire Argonauts team, including Jack, as well as their friends from the other teams, and Alex and Eliza bring up the rear. They congratulate the two of them and Nia asks where they’re all going to celebrate.

Eliza happily opens her home for everyone to gather and they all eat appetizers while they wait for the meal to be served. Lena leans against the banister in front of the stairs and smiles at everyone mingling together in the living room. Sara notices her and approaches, her own smile spread across her face.

“Well, Luthor, you actually did it. I’m really proud of you.” She takes a sip from her cup and stands next to Lena.

“Thank you, Sara,” Lena replies. “I owe a great deal to you and Ava.”

Sara shrugs off the comment. “Don’t mention it. Although, I wouldn’t mind your firstborn being named after me.” Lena laughs and catches Kara’s attention. She strolls over and kisses her on the cheek.

“You aren’t flirting with my fiancée are you, Lance?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, slugger. If you’ll excuse me.” Sara takes her leave and heads back to Ava’s side and Kara sidles up to Lena, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“How are you feeling?” Kara asks.

“Fine,” Lena responds automatically. She’s been conditioned to always say she’s doing fine, ever since she was a little girl, but she doesn’t have to be _just fine_ anymore. “No, I’m better than fine. I’m happy and excited, and so glad I get to be here with you and our friends.”

Kara grins and pulls her closer. “I’m happy, too. I can’t wait to start our new life together.” She leans in to kiss her and Jack walks up and makes a disgusted sound.

“Save that for the honeymoon, loves,” he jokes.

Lena playfully shoves him. Kara laughs and leaves to go refill their drinks. As Jack takes her place, Lena pokes him in the side with her elbow. “Thank you, Jack, for everything.”

Jack ducks his head. “Bah, I didn’t do anything. I should be thanking the two of you. I think I’m ready to settle down, myself.” He turns and raises his glass to Eve, who’s standing near the fireplace.

Lena’s jaw drops. “You and _Eve_? When did that happen?”

Jack scoffs. “Hey, you left me all alone here. I had to find someone else to talk to and Eve still tolerated me, for whatever reason. She’s a little firecracker, that one.”

Lena gags. “I don’t want to know.”

“You’re no fun.” They continue watching everyone talking and dancing for a while. “Did you ever think this would be our life?”

Lena chuckles sardonically. “No, I thought I would be in charge of a company I didn’t want and married to a man I didn’t love. This is significantly better.”

Jack nods silently. “I’m happy for you. Truly.”

She watches Kara dancing like a goofball in the middle of the room, having gotten distracted and completely forgetting about their drinks. She pulls Alex in with her after her sister fails to protest effectively. It starts a chain reaction of dancing as the entire room erupts into dance hall as they sing and laugh together. Before she knows it, Lena’s being pulled in by her enthusiastic fiancée and being twirled around and around until she ends up against Kara’s chest. Kara looks down at her and smiles widely, her eyes scrunching closed in amusement, and she leans in to kiss Lena gently. In that moment, she knew that every bad decision she ever made, every mistake, they all eventually led her to this point and time and the cloud that hung over her head for years finally lifted, leaving nothing but sunshine. And Kara was at the center of it all.

As far as Lena was concerned, she’d hit a homerun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on tumblr: roseticospacebae/bearpantaloons (writing) or Twitter: tapdancinghippo. Thank you again!


	12. Epilogue

**45 Years Later**

Kara stands in front of her bathroom mirror and runs a brush through her shortened hair. It’s been a while since she’s thought of baseball or the team, but when she heard they were being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, she felt like she had to go. She’s lost contact with most of the players, but still hears from Alex every once in a while and at least sees her during the holidays with her family. 

A few minutes later, one of her daughters, Ella, walks in and rests her chin on her mother’s shoulder. “You look great.” 

“You think they’ll remember me?” 

Ella scoffs. “The _Great_ Kara Danvers? Who could forget?” 

Kara smiles into the mirror and pats her daughter’s arm that’s wrapped around her shoulder and sighs. 

“I miss Mom,” Ella says quietly. 

“I know, me too,” Kara replies, “but she’ll be watching us. Now, come on. We need to finish getting ready.” 

They pack everything up into their car and start driving to Cooperstown, NY, singing along to the radio and Ella feeding Kara french fries that they picked up at a drive-thru on the way there. When they cross the New York state line, they stop, so they can take pictures in front of the Welcome to New York sign while dodging traffic. Kara had made a reservation at a hotel nearby and they stopped to unload their luggage and decompress before the ceremony later that night. 

Kara thinks about her time on the baseball team, thinks about her life with Lena. They’ve lived a good life together, have two beautiful daughters who’ve grown up to become incredible women in their own right. One followed in Lena’s footsteps and became a scientist, working on cancer research and the other was more carefree like Kara and went into journalism. 

After dinner, Kara and Ella get ready for the ceremony, dressing up to the nines and hailing a cab to take them to the Baseball Hall of Fame. They pull up to an enormous building with four rectangle windows adorning each wall. Kara clenches her fists in her lap, feeling her nerves spike. 

“Are you ready, Ma?” Ella asks, giving her mother’s arm a little squeeze. 

“Yeah, let’s get the show on the road,” Kara says with a smile. They head inside with the rest of the crowds of people who are all there to see the exhibit. They mold themselves in the group and file inside, checking in at the registration table. 

“Kara Danvers,” one of the women gasps. “My god, a legend is here. Do you see, Ruby?” Kara’s ears perk up at the name and she looks over at the other woman sitting at the table. 

“Rubes?” 

The young woman has almond eyes and wavy brown hair. She grins at Kara and stands up to round the table. “Hi, Aunt Kara.” Kara hasn’t seen her in years, usually spending the holidays with Sam’s family. 

“My gosh, look how much you’ve grown up. You remember my daughter, Ella?” 

“Of course, nice to see you again,” Ruby says with a nod to Kara’s left. Ella shyly raises her hand in a wave. 

“Are your moms here?” Kara asks, looking around, trying to find Alex. 

“Oh, yeah, they’re wandering around somewhere. I’m sure they’ll turn up.” 

They finish getting registered and slap their nametags onto their shirts before walking into the main lobby where more people are standing around. There are refreshments that Kara immediately finds and pours out a couple of cups of punch, grabbing a few crackers and cheese next to them. When she’s nervous, she gorges herself and she’s not really sure why being there is making her feel this way. It’s possibly because she hasn’t seen any of the women in so long and she’s not quite sure what to expect. 

Someone walks up to a microphone and asks for silence. All of the people gather around and listen intently while the person introduces the last person to manage the Women’s Baseball League, a man by the name of J’onn Jonzz. He was a major step up from Morgan Edge, leading the women’s league into years of success, even after the war was over. He was well into his nineties, but looked as healthy as ever. Kara stood in the back of the crowd listening to him speak, as he heralded the women for their bravery and determination. 

Once the ribbon to the exhibit is cut, the crowds of people file in through the doorway and start looking at all of the displays. There are photographs, uniforms, and other memorabilia that had been donated by generous donors, some things even given by Alex and Kara. There was a whole section about Jack and his baseball career, then his career as a coach. He’d passed away a few years back from liver cancer. The whole team had gone to the funeral and sent Eve their well-wishes. The two of them had gotten married shortly after their second season as coaches and were together ever since. 

As Kara and Ella look through all of the photographs, Kara explains who each of them are, what position they played, and tells embarrassing stories. They come upon a photograph of her and Alex, from the day of their try-outs and Kara feels a pang of loneliness. She and Alex don’t see each other as often as they’d like, both having their own families to take care of. While that time in her life was very brief, it shaped who she is and how she raised her children. 

She and Lena both agreed that they would support them no matter what they wanted to pursue in life and not stand in their way. Most people scoffed at their style of parenting, as it was unusual to take such a laidback approach back then, but her children grew up to become what they wanted to be and, because of that, lived rich and fulfilling lives. They understood what it was like to have the pressures of society and family on their shoulders, so they didn’t want their children to feel that way, Lena especially. 

Kara and Ella continue making their way through the exhibit until Kara hears someone shout, “Hey, nerd!” She whips her head around and sees her smiling sister walking toward her and crashes into her with a big hug. 

“God, it’s good to see you,” Alex says. Kara tightens her arms around her sister and buries her face in her neck. 

“It’s good to see you, too. It’s been too long.” 

Sam and Kelly walk up behind her and they all hug each other, Ella saying hi to her aunts, as well. They walk through the halls together, laughing at photos they recognize and there’s a lot of _remember when’_ s as they recall stories and memories of their times together. Kara remembers it all, and remembers how her relationship with Lena started. Reluctant team manager, Lena Luthor, waltzing into her life and onto her farm in her expensive shoes and careful smile. Kara didn’t stand a chance. She was gone the moment they met and for every moment that followed. 

Kara only played baseball that one year, because Lena was busy with her projects and Kara didn’t want to be away so much with all the traveling that would be required, so she went along with Lena to wherever she needed to go for her talks and presentations and they became their own team. 

Seeing all of these photographs and thinking about Lena makes Kara’s heart ache. They’d been together for so long, had a wonderful life together, and Kara knows things will never go back to the way they were, but she knows how lucky she is to have Lena as long as she did. Still, it never feels like it’s long enough. If it were up to Kara, she’d follow Lena to the grave and then to the afterlife or their next lives, whatever happens after death. She can’t imagine existing without Lena, and she wouldn’t want to. 

“Ma?” Ella says, bringing Kara out of her fog. 

“What is it, honey?” 

Ella points down the hall. “There’s an area dedicated to Mom in there.” 

Kara swallows thickly, her hands shaking ever so slightly. She can do this; she can give Lena the recognition and love she deserves. She knows she’s meant to give a speech, to officially open the wing that held the non-player displays, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. Public speaking was always Lena’s thing, not hers. A small stage is set up in there with a microphone stand waiting in the center of it. Kara’s escorted to it and Ella stands front and center, giving her mom a thumbs up. The rest of the crowd gathers around and waits for Kara to begin. Kara zeroes in on Alex and smiles. Her sister gives her a nod of encouragement. 

“Hello everyone, my name is Kara Danvers. I played for the National City Argonauts the first year the league had a women’s baseball team. We were kind of the placeholders for when the men came back and could return to their original positions, but with people like Mr. Jonzz, the coaches, and the managers, the women’s teams were able to continue playing for many more years. 

“That one year made it possible for so many women to find their places in life, their purpose. I know it helped me figure out what I wanted, and that was to build a family. I couldn’t have done that without my team, without my coaches, Jack and Eve, or without Lena Luthor. We all owe Lena a great debt for what she did with the league. When the men in charge wanted to tear it all down and do away with it, Lena fought for us, and even when I left the league, she continued to donate her time and money to it, because it meant a lot to her and our friends. 

“So, without further ado, I’d like to dedicate this wing to all of you who helped us from off the field, but especially to my wife, Lena. I love you, honey.” 

Everyone claps and applauds as Kara leaves the stage and Ella wipes the tears from her face as she hugs her mother. 

“Mom would have hated all of this attention on her,” Ella laughs. 

“I know,” Kara smiles. “She always did like to do things from the sidelines quietly.” They greet other players and their families, shaking hands and politely conversing with them about how much the league changed over the years and how some of them still played on a seniors team. When the last person walks through, Kara and Ella are free to roam around the exhibit and take in all of the photographs and mementos. It’s a special exhibit dedicated to Lena and the work she did to bring women’s baseball and STEM into the public eye. All of the news articles, the videos, and examples of Lena’s work hang from the walls and all of the young girls she helped and supported, who ended up making names for themselves, also had their own sections within the exhibit. 

At the very end of the hall, Kara sees a woman standing there, with grey hair pulled back into a bun. She feels her chest tighten and she’s not sure if she’s seeing things or not, so she takes a few careful steps forward. Ella’s gone off with Ruby somewhere, so she’s been left alone. In a soft, gentle voice, she speaks. 

“Hey, Coach.” 

The woman whips her head around and smiles immediately when she sees Kara. Wrapping her up in a tight embrace, Kara breathes her in and it’s like they’re in their mid-twenties again, still just as in love as they were back then. 

“Hello, darling,” Lena whispers as she places a soft kiss to Kara’s lips. 

Kara smiles and takes hold of one of her wife’s hands. “We didn’t think you were going to make it back in time. We heard the weather was terrible coming back from France.” 

“I just missed the storm, but I hear all of the flights after mine were delayed. Besides, I promised Ella I wouldn’t miss this, so I would have made it back one way or another,” Lena says, resting her head on Kara’s shoulder as they watch one of the videos on a giant screen. “Look how young I was,” she sighs. 

“You were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen,” Kara reminisces. “You still are.” 

Lena chuckles and pecks Kara on the cheek. “Flatterer. You trying to get lucky, Danvers?” 

“Only if you want me to break a hip,” Kara jokes and Lena barks out a laugh. After all these years, she’s never tired of hearing Lena laugh. She understands how lucky she is and how close she was to losing Lena, so every moment they have together is precious. They don’t spend much more time in the exhibit and while Ella, Ruby, and some of the other ladies stay behind to play a casual game of baseball at the nearby field, all Kara wants to do is be with Lena. With everything they’ve been through together and everything they’ve achieved, she knows they’re not done yet. Whatever comes next, whatever goal or project Lena finds, they’ll meet it head-on and do it together, as a team. And she can’t wait to see Lena hit it out of the park. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for taking so long to post this chapter. The election happened, life happened, and everything else happened, but it's here.
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos for this fic. It's been a labor of love for sure and I'm glad it's finally done. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. You can find me on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/tapdancinghippo) or on tumblr [here](https://roseticospacebae.tumblr.com/). Come say hi.


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